Biden may have been aiming to bring"experiential diversity" to the Seventh Circuit, Tobias said. Pryor's background with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Indiana contrasts with the experience of Jackson-Akiwumi, who spent a decade as a federal public defender in Illinois."You get some balance here for Republicans who might be concerned that too many federal public defenders would be less 'tough on crime,'" Tobias said.
Support from Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young, who has publicly backed Pryor's appointment, also may have influenced the higher number of Senate approval votes, Tobias said. Pryor has served as a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Indiana since 2018. She graduated from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2003, and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Central Arkansas in 1999.