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Sparkle L. Sooknanan ’10 (b. 1983)
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Sooknanan graduated summa cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2010. She clerked for Judge Eric N. Vitaliano (E.D.N.Y.), Judge Guido Calabresi (2d Cir.), and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (U.S. Supreme Court), before serving as an appellate attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and later as a partner at Jones Day. She went on to hold senior leadership roles in the Department of Justice as Deputy Associate Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division. Nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate in December 2024, she received her commission on January 2, 2025, becoming the first Trinidad-born woman and one of the youngest judges to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Keywords
Appellate Attorney, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Deputy Associate Attorney General, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Trinidad, Trinidadian Judges, Carribean Judges, Female Judges