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On Wednesday, US Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine recommended candidates for the vacancies of US Attorney in the Eastern and Western districts of Virginia to President Joe Biden. Their recommended candidates in a letter to the White House are Jessica Aber (an assistant US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond) and John Hall (a former assistant U.S. attorney, for the Eastern District position and a civil litigator at the law firm of Covington & Burling). Point to be noted that the Eastern District of Virginia serves roughly 6 million people and it stretches from Northern Virginia, through Richmond and Central Virginia to the Tidewater region.

The Eastern District is one of the preeminent in the country because of its proximity to the Washington, D.C. area and the many militaries, government, and high-tech facilities located there. It is noteworthy that the recommendation of Virginia senators in the Western District includes Christopher Kavanaugh (an assistant US attorney in the Western District of Virginia) and Erin B. Ashwell (the chief deputy attorney general for the state of Virginia). The letter says, “Panels of esteemed attorneys from across the Commonwealth interviewed Ms. Aber, Mr. Hall, Mr. Kavanaugh, and Ms. Ashwell, along with many other excellent candidates. We find these four candidates to be exceptionally qualified for the position of U.S Attorney after considering the panels’ reviews and conducting our own interviews”.

The White House will now nominate one person for each vacancy for the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider and then confirmation by the full Senate will be sought. It is important that the Eastern District’s former US attorney, G. Zachary Terwilliger left the job on 15^th January after 2½ years of private practice. The acting US Attorney Raj Parekh is in charge of the office since Terwilliger’s departure did not apply for the position. Parekh is the first person of color to head the office in its 232-year history. He said, “I look forward to continuing my service here as a career federal prosecutor, and I am committed to working closely with whoever is ultimately nominated and confirmed”.