The President is announcing his intent to nominate one individual to a federal circuit court and two individuals to federal district courts—all of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

This will be President Biden’s thirty-ninth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 191.

United States Circuit Court Announcement

1. Seth R. Aframe: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

Seth R. Aframe has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire since 2007. He has served as Chief of the Criminal Division in that office since early 2023 and Appellate Chief since 2010. Previously, Mr. Aframe was an associate at Choate Hall & Stewart L.L.P from 2000 to 2003. Mr. Aframe served as a law clerk to Judge Jeffrey R. Howard on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 2003 to 2007 and to Justice Judith A. Cowin on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1999 to 2000. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Tufts University in 1996.

United States District Court Announcements

1. Judge Edward S. Kiel: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Judge Edward S. Kiel has been a United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey since 2019. Previously, Judge Kiel was a partner at Cole Schotz, P.C. from 2001 to 2019. Before that, he was an associate at Cole Schotz from 1998 to 2001, at Beattie Padovano from 1994 to 1998, and at Jamieson Moore Peskin & Spicer from 1992 to 1994. Judge Kiel served as a law clerk for Presiding Criminal Judge Michael R. Imbriani of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Somerset County from 1991 to 1992. He received his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1991 and his B.A. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University in 1988.

2. Sarah F. Russell: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

Sarah F. Russell is a law professor and director of the Civil Justice Clinic at Quinnipiac University School of Law in North Haven, Connecticut, where she has taught since 2011. Previously, Ms. Russell was a lecturer in law and director of the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School from 2007 to 2010. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Russell was an Assistant Federal Defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Connecticut. She served as a law clerk for Judge Chester J. Straub on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2003 to 2005 and for Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2002 to 2003. Ms. Russell received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2002 and her B.A. from Yale College in 1998.

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