Confirmation of Gables lawyer to federal bench running out of time with Scott, Rubio in way

More than six months ago, President Joe Biden nominated a prominent Miami-area lawyer to be a federal judge in South Florida — a choice applauded across the region’s legal, business and political communities.

As a Black woman, Detra Shaw-Wilder was seen as a worthy successor to the late Marcia Cooke, a pioneering Black judge on the federal bench in South Florida.

The 54-year-old Miami native was even recommended for the high-profile post by a judicial nominating committee handpicked by Florida’s senior Republican senator, Marco Rubio.

READ MORE: A prominent Black lawyer in Coral Gables nominated as federal judge in South Florida

But now Shaw-Wilder’s once-promising nomination looks doomed: Rubio and Florida’s other GOP senator, Rick Scott, have refused to support her before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which meets on Wednesday to consider a handful of other federal judicial nominees for the last time before the presidential election on Nov. 5.

After the election, the committee could meet a few times to consider more judicial nominees, but the odds of Rubio and Scott changing their minds during the lame-duck session look bad.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law school professor and expert on federal judicial nominations, said the timing of Shaw-Wilder’s confirmation in the Senate could not be worse because of the rising divisive climate in Washington fueled by the presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

“I think we’re at a point where the Republican senators who have vacancies in their courts have shut down the process,” Tobias said. “That’s what we’re seeing from Scott and Rubio in Florida, and they’re not alone. ... They’re rolling the dice and willing to take their chances that Trump will win the election.”

Earlier this month, Scott’s office said the senator’s “position has not changed” since May when the Miami Herald first reported that he was blocking Shaw-Wilder’s nomination in the U.S. Senate because he believes the Biden administration did not properly consult with him before formally announcing her appointment.

READ MORE: Florida’s GOP senators hold up Biden’s nomination of top lawyer for federal judge

Scott, who faces re-election this fall, told the Herald in May that White House staffers did not act in “good faith” by discussing potential nominees with him and reaching an agreement before Biden announced his selection of her in March. Scott acknowledged that he interviewed Shaw-Wilder last year and still considered her a viable candidate for a federal judgeship.

Rubio, despite his judicial nominating committee recommending her as a federal judge, has continued to side with Scott.

“As Senator Rubio has said before, the White House needs to work collaboratively with both senators if it wants the process to move forward,” his office said in a statement provided to the Herald earlier this month.

Both senators have the authority to block any nomination for the federal district court in Florida by withholding a so-called blue slip that would allow the process to go forward in the Senate. Critics say their blocking Shaw-Wilder’s nomination to spite Biden.

Rubio, Scott won’t confirm any of Biden’s judicial nominees

On that point, in late May, both Rubio and Scott joined six other other conservative Republican senators in signing a declaration saying they would not vote to confirm any of Biden’s nominations for federal judges in retaliation for a New York jury finding Trump guilty of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to a porn star.

Their declaration, issued just after the Manhattan jury’s verdict against Trump, erected another political barrier for Shaw-Wilder’s nomination.

One of the GOP senators who signed the declaration, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, later joined with his Democratic counterpart, Tammy Baldwin, in supporting lawyer Byron Conway for a federal judgeship in that state. Conway, who has been a donor to Democrats, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday.

But in Florida, the White House has been frustrated in negotiating with Scott and Rubio — not only over Shaw-Wilder’s nomination in South Florida but also over three federal judicial vacancies in the Tampa-Orlando areas. Working out a package deal with the two senators has been elusive.

Strong bipartisan support for her nomination

Still, a senior Biden official said the White House remains strongly committed to Shaw-Wilder’s nomination, saying that the outpouring of bipartisan support for her in South Florida distinguishes her appointment from other judicial nominees in Republican-leaning states.

“Florida is not the only state with two Republican Senators and multiple district court vacancies, but there is something that sets Florida apart from states like Missouri and North Carolina,” Phil Brest, special assistant to the president and senior counsel, told the Herald.

“The public support for Ms. Shaw-Wilder’s nomination is unparalleled when it comes to the district court,” Brest said. “That broad support raises questions as to why the [Florida] Senators are blocking her nomination from moving forward.”

Her South Florida supporters say it is a shame that Shaw-Wilder, who came from humble beginnings to reach the top of her profession as a civil litigator, now faces a political blockade to her Senate confirmation as a federal judge.

UM law school graduate, partner in Gables firm

Shaw-Wilder grew up in Miami Gardens, graduated from Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High, and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and her law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, before joining the Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton law firm in Coral Gables in 1994. She became a partner in 2002 and later served as managing partner of the firm. She is currently its general counsel.

More than 100 retired judges, lawyers, business executives and community leaders wrote letters to Sens. Rubio and Scott, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the White House, praising Shaw-Wilder as Biden’s pick for the federal bench in South Florida, including more than 30 past presidents of the Cuban American Bar Association.

Harley Tropin, co-founder of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, pointed out that Shaw-Wilder was recommended for a federal judgeship by both Rubio’s nominating committee and another panel picked by South Florida Democratic congressional leaders. He also said she was vetted by the Department of Justice and FBI as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee, and received a unanimous well-qualified rating from the American Bar Association.

“We can only hope the senators will recognize this and allow the nomination to proceed despite the politics of the moment,” Tropin said.

During the previous round of Biden nominations for federal judgeships in South Florida, Shaw-Wilder was overlooked — to the disappointment of local Black leaders.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, has been one of Shaw-Wilder’s most vocal advocates, saying she would be an ideal replacement for Marcia Cooke. Cooke died last year after serving in Miami as the first African-American woman appointed to the federal bench in Florida. Before her death, Wilson said she had promised her that she would replace her with a Black woman.

“It is disappointing to see Detra Shaw-Wilder’s nomination continue to stall in the Senate despite her outstanding legal credentials and strong community support,” Wilson said in a statement. “It is important for all parties to prioritize the common good and fairness over any political maneuvering and ensure that the most qualified candidate ... is given the role she deserves, based on unanimous recognition of her abilities.”

In February, the U.S. Senate confirmed three candidates — all former U.S. prosecutors — as federal judges in the Southern District of Florida. One was Jacqueline Becerra, who grew up in Hialeah, and is a graduate of the University of Miami and Yale University Law School. She was a magistrate judge in Miami and a former partner with the Greenberg Traurig law firm.

The Senate also confirmed David Leibowitz, who obtained his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and then served in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan before working as general counsel for his uncle’s auto empire, Braman Motors, based in Miami. His uncle, Norman Braman, was Rubio’s biggest benefactor when he ran for president in 2016.

Melissa Damian, who worked in the U.S. attorney’s office before serving as a U.S. magistrate judge in Miami, was also confirmed after them. Damian, a graduate of Princeton University and UM law school, clerked early in her career for former U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro, who championed her bid for the federal bench.

Also in late February, the Senate confirmed a Black magistrate judge, Julie Sneed, as a federal judge in the Middle District of Florida covering the Orlando and Tampa areas..

But now the presidential campaign season is peaking, making Shaw-Wilder’s confirmation as a federal judge “tenuous,” said Tobias, the University of Richmond law professor.

“She didn’t get there in time,” Tobias said. “The election did her in.”