WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to receive the 235th judicial confirmation of his presidency as early as Friday, a feat that surpasses his predecessor’s total by one, after Democrats placed particular emphasis on the federal courts following Donald Trump’s wide-ranging first term when he filled three seats on the Supreme Court.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has lined up the votes for two potential district judges in California. These are likely to be the last judicial confirmations this year before Congress adjourns to make way for a fresh, Republican-led Senate. He said he hoped to complete voting by the end of Friday.
The first confirmation will tie Trump’s number, the second will break it. Next year, Republicans will seek to enhance Trump’s already considerable influence over the makeup of the federal judiciary in his second term.
Biden and Senate Democrats placed particular emphasis on adding women, minorities and public defenders to the judicial ranks. About two-thirds of Biden appointees are women and the majority of appointees are people of color. The most notable appointment was Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to serve on the highest court in the land.
“Before our deployment, the number of women on the Bundesbank had declined significantly. They were overwhelmingly white men,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We made a conscious effort to get more women on the bench and believe me, we had a great talent pool to work with. Therefore, I think that the appointment of these new judges will improve the image of the court and its work products.”
Biden also made a point of hiring more civil rights lawyers, public defenders and labor lawyers to expand the professional background of the federal judiciary. More than 45 appointees are public defenders and more than two dozen served as civil rights attorneys.
While Biden confirmed more district judges than Trump, he had fewer senior district court appointments than Trump – 45 compared to 54 for Trump. And he received one Supreme Court appointment, compared to three for Trump. Much to the dismay of Democrats, Republicans filled Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the court in the week before the 2020 presidential election. Ginsburg died in September.
Democrats also faced the challenge of confirming nominees in two years with a 50-50 split in the Senate. Barely a week went by in the current Congress without Schumer securing judicial confirmation, as liberal groups urged Democrats to show the same urgency toward judges that Republicans showed under Trump.
Some Republicans in the Senate expressed pointed criticism of Biden’s decisions. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said talk of diversity did not extend to the nominees’ views.
“One of the consequences of the age of Trump is that it drove Democrats crazy and pushed them to the far left, so they benched people who were chosen because they were extreme partisans,” Cruz said.
Liberal interest groups were pleased with the number of judges the Democrats had gained, but especially with the quality of the nominees. They said diversity in personal and professional backgrounds improves judicial decision-making, builds public trust and inspires people from all walks of life to pursue legal careers.
“In order for our federal judiciary to truly provide equal justice for all, it must truly apply to all, and that is one of the reasons we certainly applaud this administration for prioritizing both professional and demographic diversity,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the Fair Courts Program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Democrats have shown fresh resolve in judicial confirmations.
“They learned a lesson from the first Trump administration,” Grassley said. “It’s worth paying attention to the number of judges you get and the type of judges you put on the court.”
Part of the urgency came from Democrats as they watched the nation’s highest court strike down abortion protections, eliminate affirmative action in higher education and weaken the federal government’s ability to regulate the environment, public health and workplace safety protect. The cases showed that the balance of power in Washington extends to the judiciary.
Trump will inherit nearly three dozen judicial vacancies, but that number is expected to rise because Republican-appointed judges held off on retiring in hopes that a Republican would return to office and choose their successor.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., acknowledged that Democrats’ sense of success was somewhat tempered, given that Trump will have another term to further shape the federal judiciary.
“I’m not ready to uncork the champagne just because we’ve done a really good job over the last four years,” Blumenthal said. “We have to be willing to work, hope for the best and try to defeat the nominees who are simply unqualified. We have a lot of work ahead of us. The outlook is sobering.”
Grassley promised he would work to surpass Biden’s number.
“I assure you that by January 20, 2029, Trump will be bragging about having 240 judges,” Grassley said.
