Indianz.Com > News > Cronkite News: Judicial nominee adds to diversity of federal bench
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Phoenix lawyer tapped by Biden would be second South Asian federal judge in Arizona – after older sister, an appeals court judge
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden will nominate Phoenix lawyer Sharad Desai to the federal bench, the White House said Wednesday, making him the second South Asian federal judge in Arizona — after his older sister.
Biden named Judge Roopali Desai to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles cases from nine western states, in 2022.
“It’s truly remarkable to think about how much I have followed her in my life,” Desai said at his sister’s investiture ceremony on January 23, 2023, his voice choking with emotion. “I saw what Roopali accomplished, and that has paved the way for me.”
She was a drum major, so he became one. She played tennis, he said, so he did, too. And then, when his sister was a first-year law student, he was weighing whether to study medicine or law. “I thought, ‘Wow, she is so dedicated to justice and I am too, and this is what I want to do,’ so I went to law school as well,” he said.
A member of the South Asian Bar Association of Arizona, Desai is currently vice president and general counsel at Honeywell International in Phoenix. Roopali Desai was a prominent voting rights lawyer who had fought claims of 2020 election fraud when Biden tapped her for the 9th Circuit. The court is based in San Francisco, but she sits in Phoenix. “If he’s got the same genes as she does, he’s going to be a great judge. I don’t have any doubt about it,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond and an expert on judicial nominations. Another sister, Shefali Milczarek-Desai, is a law professor at the University of Arizona. Their parents immigrated from India. “My parents have always instilled a deep sense of patriotism in my siblings and I,” Desai said at his sister’s investiture.Sharad Desai possesses the experience, integrity, and intellect to serve AZ as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court. I’m proud to have recommended his nomination and I look forward to securing his bipartisan confirmation by the U.S. Senate.https://t.co/ZeZoyl1GGJ
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) August 28, 2024
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According to the White House, 37 of 205 judges nominated by Biden and confirmed by the Senate have been Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, including Judge Desai. Sharad Desai would be the 38th. “Having an Asian American presence on the federal bench in Arizona is going to enhance public support among the Asian community for the federal judiciary,” said Charles Geyh, a law professor at Indiana University who has studied judicial nominations. Diversity on the bench can minimize the risk of racial bias, he added. “Having a greater mix enables that judge to be having conversation within the district and essentially to address the kinds of biases that can arise when deciding racial discrimination cases, certainly ones involving … people of Asian ancestry,” Geyh said. Democratic presidents have typically pushed to broaden the federal judiciary at least since President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, he said, adding that Biden “has really made a concerted effort with the lower courts to focus on bringing a diverse array of candidates.”BREAKING: The Senate just confirmed Judge Sanket Bulsara, marking the 35th lifetime confirmation of an AANHPI judge during the Biden administration. Learn more about the AANHPI judges confirmed during this administration. #AANHPIHeritageMonth https://t.co/w0OXEsXC6n
— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) May 15, 2024
Sharad H. Desai: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Biographical information provided by the White House.
Sharad H. Desai has been Vice President and General Counsel for Honeywell International’s Integrated Supply Chain and Information Technology divisions in Phoenix, Arizona since 2023. He has worked in senior legal counsel roles at Honeywell since 2015. From 2007 to 2015, Mr. Desai worked as an attorney with the Phoenix law firm Osborn Maledon, P.A., first as an associate and later as partner. He began his legal career serving as a law clerk for Justice Rebecca White Berch on the Arizona Supreme Court from 2006 to 2007. Mr. Desai received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2006 and his B.A. and B.S. from the University of Arizona in 2003.
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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