President Joe Biden on Monday announced his first slate of nominees to serve as U.S. Attorneys, including a number of historic firsts.

According to the White House, the 8 picks – which include the first Black or female attorneys to lead their districts, in some cases – were picked "for their devotion to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials in this field, their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice."

The Justice Department’s 93 U.S. attorneys, who are responsible for federal criminal prosecutions in their respective districts, are likely to be central to efforts to combat violent crime. The announcements come as Attorney General Merrick Garland is attempting to coalesce the leadership team for the DOJ as the administration aims to crack down on gun violence and a rise in violent crime nationwide.

The Justice Department disclosed in February that it was seeking the resignation of most U.S. attorneys appointed during President Donald Trump’s administration, though it did leave in place David Weiss, the top federal prosecutor in Delaware, where law enforcement officials have been conducting a criminal tax investigation involving Biden’s son, Hunter.

U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and are routinely nominated with a recommendation from a home-state senator. 

Here is a closer look at Biden's first picks to serve as U.S. Attorneys:

Barron, a former federal prosecutor and policy advisor to Biden and a current state lawmaker, would be the first Black U.S. attorney in the District of Maryland.

Barron previously served as Counsel and Policy Advisor to then Sen. Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, and also served as a federal prosecutor in the DOJ's criminal division.

Brown would be the first Black lawyer to run the Western District of Washington, which encompasses Seattle.

Brown previously served as General Counsel to the Governor of Washington from 2013 to 2017, and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington from 2007 to 2013.

Brown began his career as a Judge Advocate General in the United States Army.

Graves, who has been nominated to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Washington, D.C., is a former fraud and public corruption prosecutor in that office, which is currently overseeing hundreds of cases arising from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The Trump administration appointee who held the job during the riot, Michael Sherwin, later left the Justice Department. The position has been held on an acting basis by Channing Phillips, who served in the same role during the Obama administration.

Graves, a partner at prominent law firm DLA Piper LLP since 2016, previously worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, where he served in the Office’s Fraud and Public Corruption Section.

Both Clifford Johnson and Biden's nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney nominee for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary Myers, would be the first Black U.S. Attorneys for their respective districts.

Johnson previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana from 1986 until 2020.

He would be the first Black lawyer to lead the Northern District of Indiana after spending nearly 35 years in that office.

Myers, who specializes in national security and cyber matters as a federal prosecutor in Maryland, would be the first Black U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Indiana.

Myers has worked in the District of Maryland’s National Security and Cybercrime Section, serving as Cybercrime Counsel for the District. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

Rollins, who has pushed for progressive criminal justice reforms as the first woman of color to serve as a district attorney in Massachusetts, would become the first Black woman to serve as U.S. attorney for the state.

Rollins defeated the district attorney candidate backed by the longtime incumbent and police groups in the 2018 Democratic primary on a promise to decline prosecution for certain low-level crimes, arguing that people shouldn’t be jailed for crimes that result from mental health or addiction problems and said she wanted to focus her attention on serious crimes, like homicides.

As the top prosecutor for Boston and surrounding communities, Rollins has been outspoken about the need for police reform in the wake of high-profile killings of people of color by law enforcement across the U.S. In an interview with The Associated Press in April, she said the country must do away with the misconception that questioning the police or suggesting ways they can improve means “you don’t back the blue.”

“The police have an incredibly hard job, and believe me, I know there are violent people that harm community and police but that’s not all of us. So we have to acknowledge that it’s not working and we have to sit together to come up with solutions, but it’s urgent,” Rollins said at the time. “I’m afraid, I’m exhausted and I’m the chief law enforcement officer so imagine what other people feel like,” she said.

Rollins previously served as the Chief Legal Counsel to the Massachusetts Port Authority from 2013 to 2015, and as the General Counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation from 2011 to 2013 and contemporaneously to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from 2012 to 2013. She was also Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2011.

Ross, who has served as the Director of Investigations, Legal Division, with the National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General since 2018, would be the first Black woman to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York.

She previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney Western District of New York from 1995 to 2018, including serving as the Senior Litigation Counsel and the Chief of the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Section

Ross, an alum of The State University of New York, at Fredonia, was recommended for the job by New York's senior senator, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

If confirmed by the Senate, Waldref would be the  first woman to run the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Washington.

Waldref has been a Trial Attorney with the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice since 2020, according to the White House. Previously, she served Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington

The Associated Press contributed to this report.