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Joe Biden left his legacy on the federal bench after Senate Democrats raced to confirm more than 200 nominees for lifetime appointments to courts across the United States, surpassing Donald Trump's tally during his first presidency.
The number of Biden's judicial nominees reached 235 as Congress ended its final session last week, exceeding the 234 number of federal judges confirmed by Trump during his first term. Biden said in a statement that this is the largest number of judges appointed by a president during a single four-year term since. 1980s.
As Biden's presidency draws to a close, Democrats in the Senate — charged with confirming federal judges — sought to secure as many confirmations as possible before ceding control of Congress and the White House to Republicans next month.
They hope this latest push will counter the wave of judicial confirmations during Trump's first term, which has radically reshaped the American judiciary, pushing courts at all levels to the right.
Trump's appointment of three justices to the Supreme Court also skewed the ideological spectrum of the nation's most powerful judiciary, splitting it 6-3 between conservative and liberal justices.
Since then, the Supreme Court's conservative majority has issued rulings that have reverberated throughout American society, including overturning a decision enshrining the constitutional right to abortion — moves that have in turn encouraged right-leaning justices on lower courts, many of whom were appointed by Trump, to rule. . In favor of conservative causes.
The growing assertiveness of the American judiciary, coupled with an increasingly polarized political landscape, has turned judicial appointments into a crucial limit to presidential power. Judges at all levels have the opportunity to weigh in on challenges to departmental rules and laws, providing strong oversight over controversial policies.
The Democrats' last-minute campaign, which began in the wake of Biden's election loss in November, angered Trump. he He called Senate to block Biden's judicial nominations: “Democrats are trying to stack the courts with far-left judges on their way out the door.”
“There has been increasing polarization around the appointment of federal judges,” said Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown University Law School. Butler added that the GOP has historically prioritized judicial picks — and Biden has taken a leaf out of that playbook.
Biden's appointments are also notable for their diversity, including what he described as “a record number of judges with backgrounds and experiences that have long been overlooked.”
Nearly two-thirds of certified judges are women and people of color. Biden has appointed more Black women to US circuit courts than all previous presidents combined, and his only Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was the first Black woman on the high court.
“Biden’s focus has been on addressing all the decades where people other than white men were not considered for the bench,” Butler said.
Biden also selected a record number of public defenders, more than 45, as well as labor and civil rights attorneys — at least 10 and more than 25, respectively — for the federal bench.
“It is critically important for a thriving, multiracial democracy to have judges who not only look like all of us, but have studied and spent their careers understanding how laws impact people’s lives,” said Lena Zwarenstein, Senior Director of Fair Courts. Program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a civil rights group.
The pendulum is set to swing again. A new stream of conservative judicial appointments is expected once Trump returns to the White House next month and with Republicans in control of the Senate.
“I am incredibly proud of the way the Senate Republican Conference has teamed up with former President Trump to shape the federal judiciary,” John Thune, the newly elected Republican Senate leader, said earlier this year. He added: “I look forward to working with him to redouble our efforts during his next term.”
