NOMINATIONS & APPOINTMENTS

President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees

Issued on: April 29, 2020

Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate:

Aileen Mercedes Cannon, of Florida, to serve as Judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Aileen Cannon is an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Ms. Cannon currently serves in the Criminal Division of the Appellate Section, where she represents the United States before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Previously, Ms. Cannon served in the Major Crimes Division, prosecuting Federal firearms, narcotics, immigration, and fraud offenses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Cannon practiced civil litigation at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Cannon served as a law clerk to Judge Steven M. Colloton on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Ms. Cannon earned her B.A. from Duke University, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

Dirk B. Paloutzian, of California, to serve as Judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Dirk Paloutzian is a Shareholder at Baker Manock & Jensen, P.C., in Fresno, California, where his practice focuses on commercial and agribusiness litigation. Before joining the firm in 2002, Mr. Paloutzian served as a Deputy District Attorney for the County of Fresno and was previously in private practice at McCormick Barstow, LLP. Mr. Paloutzian earned his B.A., with distinction in general scholarship, from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. from the University of California Davis School of Law.

Aileen Cannon

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Career

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Federal judicial service

In June 2019, the office of Senator Marco Rubio indicated to Cannon that he was considering her for a position of United States district judge. Cannon expressed interest that month, and subsequently was interviewed by representatives for Senator Rubio and Senator Rick Scott, as well as White House and Justice Department legal officials.

On May 21, 2020, at age 39, Cannon was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was nominated to the seat left vacant by Judge Kenneth Marra, who assumed senior status on August 1, 2017. The American Bar Association rated Cannon as "Qualified" for the position. The American Bar Association required at least 12 years of law practice as one of their approval criteria, and Cannon just met that standard. While being vetted by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Cannon described her judicial philosophy as originalist and textualist.

On July 29, 2020, a hearing was held before the United States Judiciary Committee.[20] Law360 reported that Cannon "avoided scrutiny" during her July 2020 Senate confirmation hearing as the senators "took it easy" on her. The hearing featured five judicial nominees, with Republican senators focused on questioning J. Philip Calabrese and Democratic senators focused on questioning Toby Crouse> Afterward Democratic senators sent Cannon many follow-up questions to answer.

On September 17, 2020, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 16–6 vote. On November 12, 2020, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 57–21 vote. Later that day, Cannon was confirmed by a 56–21 vote. She received her commission on November 13, 2020

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