President Biden and Senate Democrats have confirmed 150 judicial nominees since he took office, hitting the milestone this week and fulfilling his campaign promise to diversify the federal bench.
But his mark falls short of the judicial confirmations under President Donald Trump, who had appointed 157 judges by the same point in his term.
Out of Mr. Biden’s 150 confirmed judges, 100 are women. They include the first Black female justice to the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who replaced retired Justice Stephen G. Breyer last year.
Progressive supporters of the president are cheering the judicial milestone.
“These Biden judges are highly credentialed, brilliant, and diverse individuals who are great additions to the federal bench. We look forward to the Senate continuing this good work,” said Svante Myrick, president of People For the American Way.
Out of the 100 female judges confirmed, two-thirds are women of color — including the first Muslim and first Navajo federal judges. The tally also includes the first openly lesbian judge.
“This Senate has confirmed 100 women to the federal bench — nearly double that of President Trump and more than the full first term of any president,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat.
“These nominees are all historic taken together, and many are historic in their own right: we confirmed the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, the first Muslim woman to the federal bench, and much more. This Senate has confirmed more women of color to the bench than any Senate under any previous president,” he said.
Many of the president’s judicial nominees have backgrounds as civil rights lawyers and public defenders. Republicans have criticized the nominees’ ideological background, with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas saying on social media that Mr. Biden’s appointees “are so far left that I am starting to miss the days of President Obama.”
During Mr. Biden’s 34 months in office, he’s appointed one Supreme Court justice, 36 circuit court judges and 113 district court judges.
By comparison, at this time during Mr. Trump’s administration, he had confirmed two Supreme Court justices, 43 circuit court judges and 112 district court judges.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it’s too early to tell what impact the judges are having on jurisprudence because many have been serving less than a year.
“Biden is close to Trump in nominees confirmed and will probably equal or eclipse Trump by his term’s conclusion. Of course, if the House GOP shuts down the government, that would slow Biden’s confirmation efforts,” he said.
Congress is facing a Nov. 17 funding deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.
Mr. Biden promised since taking office to diversify the federal bench with his appointments.
“They come from professional backgrounds that have for far too long been underrepresented on the bench — from labor and immigration attorneys to public defenders and civil rights lawyers. And they reflect the diversity that is our country’s strength: two-thirds of those confirmed are women and nearly two-thirds are people of color,” Mr. Biden said.
Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice, said Mr. Biden has made confirming judges a bigger priority than his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
“As a result, Biden is roughly where President Trump — who also made nominations a priority — was at this point in his presidency, in terms of numbers confirmed,” Mr. Levey said. “While Biden’s appointments have had a substantial impact on the ideological balance on the federal district courts, his impact on the circuit courts has been minimal because he has primarily been replacing Democrats with Democrats. So, too, for his one Supreme Court appointment. Given that the Supreme Court and circuit courts are where law is made, Biden’s impact on the nation’s jurisprudence has so far been small,” he said.
However, Mr. Levey said that could change if Mr. Biden is reelected in 2024.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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