President Barack Obama has pushed to bring racial and gender diversity to the federal bench. But when it comes to employment diversity — the professional backgrounds of the president’s picks — Democrats and liberal interest groups have a gripe. Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) urged Obama to nominate fewer corporate lawyers from large firms. Warren, citing a study by the liberal Alliance For Justice, said Obama’s judicial nominations so far have been in line with previous presidents — selecting lawyers from big firms with large corporate client bases.
Seventy-one percent of Obama’s nominees have practiced primarily for corporate or business clients, Warren said on Feb. 6 during a Capitol Hill event organized by the Alliance for Justice. She said that fewer than 4 percent have come to the bench with a background in public interest organizations. Warren, a Wall Street watchdog and early proponent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the imbalance gives corporations “a second bite at the apple” to try to stop laws they don’t like if lobbying efforts prove unsuccessful.
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