The Senate Confirmed Her 50–48. That Vote Is Not a Lifetime Shield.

DOCUMENTED

Official portrait of President Joe Biden

Joe Biden, official presidential portrait. Adam Schultz, The White House, 2021. U.S. government work.

Joseph R. Biden nominated Sparkle L. Sooknanan on February 27, 2024, to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, to a seat vacated by Florence Y. Pan. That is the Federal Judicial Center line. The nomination number is PN1463, 118th Congress.

The Senate confirmed the nomination on December 3, 2024, 50–48. Roll-call vote 306, 118th Congress, 2nd Session. Yeas 50, nays 48, not voting 2 (Sinema, Vance). Party-line as recorded on the Senate clerk page. A confirmation is a confirmation. It is not a finding that later orders will stand.

The commission issued January 2, 2025. The court bio says she was appointed in January 2025. FJC prints the commission date. Those two pages identify the same person.

Sources

Federal Judicial Center. “Sooknanan, Sparkle Leah.” fjc.gov

U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote 306, 118th Cong., 2nd Sess. (December 3, 2024). Confirmation: Sparkle L. Sooknanan, PN1463. 50–48. senate.gov

Congress.gov. Nomination PN1463 — Sparkle L. Sooknanan — The Judiciary. 118th Congress. congress.gov

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan.” dcd.uscourts.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Fifty to forty-eight. Not 96–0. Biden put her up in the last year. The Senate put her on the D.C. trial court on a party-line roll-call. That is how she got the robe. It is not a shield when the orders start landing on a president’s election-integrity program.