Biden withdraws nomination of Indian-American advocate Vijay Shanker for Associate Judge
Washington: US President Joe Biden on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Indian-American advocate Vijay Shanker to be an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Shanker was renominated for this top judiciary position by former President Donald Trump on January 2, two months after he lost the presidential elections and just a little over a fortnight before Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.
The withdrawal notification was sent to the Senate along with more than 30 such names, mostly judicial appointments announced during the last months of the Trump administration.
Trump had first announced his nomination last June. Currently he serves as Senior Litigation Counsel in the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, and as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section.
Before joining the Department of Justice in 2012, Shanker was in private practice with the Washington, DC, offices of Mayer Brown, LLC and Covington & Burling, LLP.
Upon graduation from law school, Shanker served as a law clerk to Judge Chester J. Straub on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Shanker completed his bachelors, cum laude, from Duke University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor for the Virginia Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
