WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday that his administration’s work nominating confirmed judges to the federal bench will aid protect the country’s democratic institutions in the coming years.
“These judges will be independent, fair and impartial,” Biden said. “I never thought I would say that, they’re going to uphold the Constitution.”
Biden nominated additional confirmed judicial candidates than President-elect Donald Trump in his first term, although Trump will begin a second term on January 20 and regain power to shape the federal judiciary.
With control of the Senate shifting from Democrats to Republicans on Friday, there is no chance of further confirmation votes before Trump’s inauguration.
Of Biden’s 235 confirmed nominees, 187 sat on district courts, 45 on federal appeals courts and two on the International Trade Court.
He appointed a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was confirmed by the Senate and is the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Nearly 100 of Biden’s nominees previously worked as civil rights lawyers or public defenders. after to the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights.
Additionally, Biden set a record for appointing the most women and more Black, Native American, Latinx, Asian American, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander appointees than ever before during his presidency, according to the Leadership Conference.
“For the first time in a long, long time, we have a bank that looks like and represents all of America,” Biden said. “We have a record number of judges with backgrounds and experiences that have long been neglected in the federal judiciary, such as champions of civil rights, workers’ rights, immigration rights and much more.”
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Biden for remarks at the White House and said confirming the justices was the committee’s top priority.
“We are proud that these nominees enjoy bipartisan support,” Durbin said. “More than 80% of them received bipartisan support.”
Durbin also thanked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for his work bringing judicial nominations to the Senate floor for a vote.
Durbin said he “nagged (Schumer) and beat him up, twisted his arm, and did everything I could to get our nominees on the calendar, and he came through with flying colors.”
Schumer, a New York Democrat who was also at the White House event, agreed, saying Durbin was “as we say in Brooklyn, ‘a noodge.’
Schumer said the confirmations were not only historic but also one of the Biden administration’s “most consequential achievements.”
“The good news is that these judges will provide a barrier against attacks on our democratic institutions. At the district level, these judges will have the primary and often decisive influence on cases involving voting rights in elections and democracy at large,” Schumer said. “These judges will be the shield that protects our democracy.”
Last updated on January 2, 2025 at 11:35 p.m
