Sparkle Sooknanan, the Biden nominee for a federal judgeship in the District of Columbia who previously attempting to extract payments on Puerto Rican debt, is facing questions about whether she was untruthful to
Congress about her role in those cases. Under (R-MO) at her confirmation hearing, Sooknanan was asked about one particular case, which argued that hedge funds should be exempted from a bankruptcy-like stay on debt payments from
Puerto Rico because it would be an unconstitutional taking. Sooknanan tried to downplay her participation. “Jones Day was retained in that case to represent a group of clients. Along with my colleagues, I made the best possible arguments,” she said. “Are you saying it wasn’t voluntary?” Hawley replied. “You represented them, right? You were lead counsel, I thought. Were you lead counsel?” Sooknanan denied this. “Senator, I was not lead counsel. I was one of many lawyers who handled that litigation.” Jones Day, the law firm where Sooknanan was a partner, differed from this interpretation at the time. In a , the firm praised Sooknanan, who was named a “rising star” by , by saying: “One of her significant representations was leading the team representing a group of investors in bonds issued by Puerto Rico’s pension system.” In addition, when hedge funds petitioned the
Supreme Court in the case in June 2019, Sooknanan is listed as the “counsel of record” in legal filings, one of which can be viewed from the . In questions for the record obtained by the , Sen. Hawley has asked Sooknanan about these discrepancies. “How is this consistent with your testimony that you were not lead counsel in this case?” Hawley writes. Sooknanan has not yet responded to these questions. Sooknanan’s representation of vulture funds in Puerto Rico has angered some of the island’s biggest defenders in
Washington. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), ranking Democrat on the House Small Business Committee, as “an insult to the people of Puerto Rico” last month. Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) retweeted Velázquez’s post. At the confirmation hearing, Sooknanan made the defense was that she complied with all ethical standards as an attorney and that her clients are entitled to vigorous counsel. But senators noted that she in cases challenging the 2020 election, and quit the firm a few months later. Asked about this, Sooknanan insisted that she “did not resign from Jones Day because of any particular representation.” When asked about her being quoted in saying that Trump
election challenges were “brought for no other reason than to deprive poor people of the right to vote,” she denied saying that as well. “Those were not my words. I do not know who provided that quote to the reporter,” Sooknanan told Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). “So if we deposed your partners, on that call, they would say, ‘No she never said it,’” Kennedy asked. Sooknanan replied: “Senator, I am telling you here today, under oath, that those were not my words.”