President Joe Biden secured the 235th judicial confirmation of his presidency Friday, an accomplishment that exceeds his predecessor's total by one after Democrats put extra emphasis on the federal courts following Donald Trump's far-reaching first term, when he filled three seats on the Supreme Court.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, teed up votes on two California district judges, and they were likely to be the last judicial confirmations this year before Congress adjourns and makes way for a new, Republican-led Senate.
The confirmation of Serena Raquel Murillo to be a district judge for the Central District of California broke Trump's mark. Come next year, Republicans will look to boost Trump's already considerable influence on the makeup of the federal judiciary in his second term.
Biden and Senate Democrats placed particular focus on adding women, minorities and public defenders to the judicial ranks. About two-thirds of Biden's appointees are women and a solid majority of appointees are people of color. The most notable appointee was Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to serve on the nation's highest court.
"Prior to our effort, the number of women on the federal bench was really diminished. It was overwhelmingly white males," said Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We consciously moved forward to bring more women to the bench, and believe me, we had a great talent pool to work with. So I think it'll enhance the image of the court and its work product to bring these new judges on."
Biden also placed an emphasis on bringing more civil rights lawyers, public defenders and labor rights lawyers to expand the professional backgrounds of the federal judiciary. More than 45 appointees are public defenders, and more than two dozen served as civil rights lawyers.
While Biden did get more district judges confirmed than Trump, he had fewer higher-tier circuit court appointments than Trump — 45 compared with 54 for Trump. And he got one Supreme Court appointment compared with three for Trump. Republicans, much to Democrats' frustration, filled Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the court the week before the 2020 presidential election. Ginsburg had died in September.
Democrats also faced the challenge of confirming nominees during two years of a 50-50 Senate. Rarely a week went by in the current Congress when Schumer did not tee up votes on judicial confirmations as liberal groups urged Democrats to show the same kind of urgency on judges that Republicans exhibited under Trump.
Some Senate Republicans were harshly critical of Biden's choices. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said talk of diversity did not extend to the views of the nominees.
"One of the consequences of the age of Trump is that it drove Democrats insane, and it drove them to the extreme left, so they put people on the bench who were selected because they were extreme partisans," Cruz said.
Liberal-leaning advocacy groups said they are delighted with the number of judges Democrats secured, but even more so with the quality of the nominees. They said diversity in personal and professional backgrounds improves judicial decision-making, helps build public trust and inspires people from all walks of life to pursue legal careers.
"For our federal judiciary to actually deliver equal justice for all, it really has to be for all, and that is one reason why we certainly applaud this administration for prioritizing both professional but also 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 showed newfound resolve on judicial confirmations.
"They learned a lesson from the first Trump administration," Grassley said. "Paying attention to the number of judges you get and the type of judges you put on the court is worth it."
Part of the urgency from Democrats came as they watched the nation's highest court overturn abortion protections, eliminate affirmative action in higher education and weaken the federal government's ability to protect the environment, public health and workplace safety through regulations. The cases showed that the balance of power in Washington extends to the judicial branch.
Trump will inherit nearly three dozen judicial vacancies, but that number is expected to rise because of Republican-appointed judges who held off on retirement in hopes that a Republican would return to office and pick their replacements.
