The Alternate Times

By Morgan Tiergarten

September 15, 2029

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nominated Chase Strangio today to be the country’s first transgender federal judge.

Strangio, of the ACLU, was also the first openly trans lawyer to argue at the U.S. Supreme Court prior to secession. He litigated several LGBTQ rights cases, including against former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2028 executive order purporting to “make illeagal [sic] all those with transgender ideology.”

“The United States judiciary should look like the United States, and it’s long past time to have this type of representation on the bench from a highly qualified nominee,” said Ocasio-Cortez in nominating Strangio for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Following the congressional impeachment and removal of hundreds of Trump appointees this year, Ocasio-Cortez has nominated a record number of women and people of color to the bench. Notably, she appointed two Black women to the U.S. Supreme Court and elevated now-Chief Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the court’s top post.

The U.S. judiciary is now comprised of 56% women and 49% people of color. Ocasio-Cortez has appointed 15 judges who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

By comparison, statistics maintained by University of Alabama researchers show that the New Confederacy’s federal judiciary is 75% white men. Women comprise roughly 20% and judges of color are 5%.