Edward Sunyol Kiel was confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey today, with the U.S. Senate approving his nomination on a 50-49 vote.
New Jersey Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, naturally, both supported Kiel’s nomination, as did all of their fellow Senate Democrats except for Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), who voted no. No Republican senators voted for Kiel.
Among other things, Kiel’s confirmation means that President Joe Biden has now successfully put ten judges on the New Jersey District Court – a colossal footprint for a court that only has a total of 17 seats.
“I’m thrilled to see the confirmation of Judge Edward Kiel, a highly qualified jurist who has dedicated his career to justice and the law,” Booker said in a statement. “His is an extraordinary American story: he will serve as a federal judge in the same courthouse where his parents were naturalized as American citizens. Judge Kiel’s confirmation brings us closer to ensuring our judiciary reflects the rich tapestry of experiences of all Americans.”
Kiel was born in South Korea, and immigrated to the United States with his parents as a child. A Notre Dame Law School graduate, Kiel was a partner at the law firm Cole Schotz before becoming a magistrate judge (a federal judgeship one level below the District Court) in 2019.
During Gov. Phil Murphy’s search for a new justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court last year, Kiel was a top contender, but the nod instead went to now-Justice Michael Noriega. Kiel didn’t have to wait long for a new opportunity, though; at the recommendation of Booker, Biden nominated him to the District Court in October of last year.
His nomination moved swiftly from there, with the Senate Judiciary Committee interviewing him on November 1 and sending him to the full Senate on November 30. Republican senators questioned Kiel on his past affiliation with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, connecting it to controversial statements on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but they had limited power to halt his nomination.
That stands in stark contrast to the difficulties another Biden pick, Third Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Adeel Mangi, has faced in getting confirmed. As happened with Kiel, Republicans have tied Mangi to the war in Gaza, but in that case their campaign appears to be succeeding; after two blistering Judiciary Committee meetings, Mangi reportedly does not have enough votes in the Senate Democratic caucus at the moment to be confirmed.
If Mangi’s nomination does ultimately founder, it would be a blemish on Biden’s otherwise impressive judicial nomination record in New Jersey.
During the presidency of Donald Trump, Booker and Menendez essentially halted all federal judicial nominations in New Jersey, leaving a large backlog of open seats to fill when Biden was elected. Along with Kiel, Biden has put Judges Julien Neals, Zahid Quraishi, Christine O’Hearn, Karen Williams, Georgette Castner, Evelyn Padin, Michael Farbiarz, Robert Kirsch, and Jamel Semper on the District Court.
Several of those nominees made history in different ways: Quraishi was the first Muslim federal judge in U.S. history, while Williams was the first Black judge to be assigned to New Jersey’s Camden duty station. Quraishi was also the first-ever Asian American District Court judge in New Jersey; Kiel will be the second.