The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (“Commission”) has recommended to the President the names of the three attorneys listed below for his consideration in selecting a nominee to fill the judicial vacancy on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals (“DCCA”) created by the anticipated retirement of the Honorable Stephen H. Glickman. The President has sixty (60) days to select a nominee to fill this vacancy.
The Commission recommends the following candidates to fill Judge Glickman’s vacancy:
Hon. Tannisha D. Bell is an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Departmental Appeals Board in the Civil Remedies Division (HHS). She has served as a federal ALJ since March 2021. Before joining HHS, Judge Bell served as an ALJ with the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings.
Judge Bell previously served as an Assistant Deputy Attorney General and a Trial Attorney with the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General. She also served as the Section Chief of the Crime Victim Services Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, where she managed a diverse staff and administered the Crime Victims Compensation Fund for the State of Ohio. Judge Bell began her career with the Columbus, Ohio City Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted traffic and criminal misdemeanor offenses ranging from driving under the influence to domestic violence and assault. She is also an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Judge Bell received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Master of Science from Virginia Tech. She received her Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Hon. Neal E. Kravitz has served as a judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (“Superior Court”) since 1998. He has extensive experience in all of the court’s major divisions and has written dozens of published trial court opinions addressing novel issues of family, civil, and criminal law. Judge Kravitz also has sat by designation on the DCCA on fifteen occasions and has authored thirteen published opinions on behalf of that court. He is the Chair of the Language Access Advisory Committee, the Chair of the Superior Court Rules Committee, and a member of the Standing Committee on Fairness and Access to the District of Columbia Courts.
Before joining the court, Judge Kravitz worked for fifteen years as a civil rights lawyer, public defender, and Senate staffer. He held positions with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, the New Hampshire Public Defender, and the Senate POW/MIA and Whitewater Committees.
Judge Kravitz is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Henry A. Politz on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Vijay Shanker, Esq., is Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division at the United States Department of Justice. He has briefed and argued 59 federal appeals, including four en banc rehearings. Mr. Shanker is currently serving on detail as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, where he investigates and prosecutes violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related offenses and advises attorneys and leadership on a range of legal issues and litigation matters.
Mr. Shanker has served in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, as Senior Counsel and as Acting Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General. Mr. Shanker has been awarded the Attorney General’s John Marshall Award, the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, and the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
Mr. Shanker received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Policy Studies, cum laude, from Duke University. He received his Juris Doctor, Order of the Coif, from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor on the Virginia Law Review. He was awarded the Roger & Madeleine Traynor Prize for “the graduate who has produced the best written work” and the Law School Alumni Association Best Note Award. Following law school, Mr. Shanker clerked for the Honorable Chester J. Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Please direct any questions to the Commission’s Executive Director at (202) 879-0478 or [email protected].
Members of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan, Chair
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
United States Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, NW
Chambers 4935-Annex
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 354-3260
[email protected]
Addy R. Schmitt, Esq.
Miller & Chevalier, Chtd.
900 16th Street, NW
Black Lives Matter Plaza
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 626-5837
[email protected]
Benjamin F. Wilson, Esq.
7825 Orchid Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20012
(202) 657-2534
[email protected]
The Honorable Marie C. Johns
PPC-Leftwich
1400 K Street, NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005-2403
(202) 434-9124
[email protected]
Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., Esq.
Dechert LLP
1900 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-1110
(202) 261-3432
[email protected]
Yaida O. Ford, Esq.
Ford Law Pros P.C.
1001 L Street, SE
Washington, DC, 20003
(202) 792-4946
[email protected]
The Honorable Linda W. Cropp
4001 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20011
(202) 726-0505
[email protected]