The Senate just confirmed the 235th lifetime federal judge nominated by President Biden. This is the most number of judges confirmed in a single term since Jimmy Carter’s presidency nearly half a century ago. More important than the number, Biden’s judges have shown a demonstrated commitment to protecting everybody’s rights, not just those of the wealthy and powerful. In addition, Biden has shattered records for diversity in his nominations, making the entire federal judiciary look more like America.
President Biden can be justly proud of his record. And thanks are due to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin for making sure the nominees were fully vetted and advanced to confirmation.
The 235 number is good. But it could have been higher: Earlier this month, Senate Democratic leadership reportedly made a deal with Republicans to not have confirmation votes for several of President Biden’s extremely qualified circuit court nominees. It is a disappointing turn in a four-year period that Democrats can otherwise be proud of.
Why do courts matter?
Courts have an enormous impact on our lives. This is true even if you’ve never set foot in a courtroom. Federal judges decide what the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress mean. So that means they shape nearly every aspect of our lives.
When we have fair courts, people can’t get away with illegal discrimination. Police know they will be held accountable for brutality. Our freedom to vote and pick our own leaders is protected. Laws protecting the rights of working people are enforced. Consumers are protected against predatory corporations. We can have meaningful protections from dangerous toxins, even if that gets in the way of corporate profits.
Our nation’s wealthiest interests recognized this decades ago. So they began a project to take over the courts. They made many advances during Donald Trump’s first term, and they are poised for more in his second. MAGA judges have already taken away our right to abortion care. They have taken away our right to have common-sense limits on guns. They have made it easier to get away with anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. And they have given the most corrupt president in history the powers of a king.
The Biden years gave us a critically important chance to right the ship. We have 235 positions filled by judges who will protect the rights of all of us. As we face the next four years, we can look to the last four as showing us what we have a right to expect of judicial nominees.
Shattering Diversity Records
The Biden White House made diversifying our courts a priority. Exceeding his immediate predecessor in this regard was a low bar, considering that two thirds of Trump’s judicial confirmations were White men. Fortunately, Biden set his eyes much higher, and he vastly exceeded all previous administrations in the diversity of his judges.
For instance, of the 235 Biden judicial confirmations:
- Nearly 60 percent have been people of color.
- Nearly 40 percent have been women of color.
- Nearly two thirds have been women.
- 12 have been out LGBTQ+ people, tying the two-term record set by Obama.
- Biden has named more Black women to federal circuit courts (13) than all his predecessors combined (8).
- More than a third of all Black woman federal judges in U.S. history were put on the bench by President Biden.
- Biden has appointed more than 40 percent of all AAPI lifetime judges in U.S. history.
- Biden has had more Hispanic judges confirmed than Obama had over two terms, and more than three times as many as Trump during his first term.
- President Biden has named as many Native Americans to the bench as all of his predecessors combined.
Breaking Barriers
Many of Biden’s judges have broken barriers of discrimination that harmed people for so much of our nation’s history. Women, people of color, religious minorities, and out LGBTQ+ people – those who have so long been denied equal rights in our country – were long excluded from positions of power in our country. The absence of their voices, perspectives, and experiences from our courts skewed the law to continue that discrimination. Many of Biden’s judges have been firsts for the districts, states, or circuits where they now serve. To name just a few:
- Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman Supreme Court justice. Her confirmation hearings inspired the nation.
- Zahid Quraishi (District of New Jersey), Nusrat Choudhury (Eastern District of New York), and Mustafa Kasubhai (District of Oregon) became the first three Muslim lifetime federal judges in our nation’s history.
- Nancy Abudu became the first Black woman on the Eleventh Circuit, and only the third Black judge ever on that court.
- Tiffany Cunningham became the first Black woman on the Federal Circuit.
- Alison Nathan (Second Circuit), Beth Robinson (Second Circuit), and Nicole Berner (Fourth Circuit) became the first out lesbians on any federal appeals court.
- John Lee became the first AAPI judge on the Seventh Circuit.
- Nancy Maldonado became the first Hispanic judge on the Seventh Circuit.
- Dana Douglas and Irma Ramirez became the first women of color on the Fifth Circuit.
- Melissa DuBose became the first federal judge of color in Rhode Island, as well as the state’s first out LGBTQ+ federal judge.
- Sunshine Suzanne Sykes became the first Native American federal judge in California.
- Charlotte Sweeney became the first out LGBTQ+ federal judge in Colorado (or anywhere else west of the Mississippi River).
A Commitment to Justice, Fairness, and Equality
A commitment to justice, fairness, and equality are essential for those who we trust to bring meaning to legal concepts like equal protection under the law. President Biden has understood that. By making professional diversity a priority, he enriched a federal judiciary that has long been filled with former prosecutors and corporate lawyers. He identified attorneys whose careers were dedicated to protecting the rights of all people, not just the powerful. Nearly 50 of them had experience as public defenders.
For instance, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson worked as a public defender early in her career. She represented indigent men and women who were accused of crimes but who could not afford a lawyer. She stood with them to make sure their rights were not violated by prosecutors or law enforcement. She has always understood that “courts have a role in making sure that everyday citizens have access to justice.”
Other Biden judges with sterling backgrounds include:
- Julie Rikelman (First Circuit), who had been the litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights.
- Nancy Abudu (Eleventh Circuit), who had spent her career defending voting rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU.
- Nicole Berner (Fourth Circuit), who had represented organized labor at SEIU for nearly two decades, and Planned Parenthood before that.
- Beth Robinson (Second Circuit), who had been a marriage equality advocate and leader of Vermont Freedom to Marry.
- Arianna Freeman (Third Circuit), who had spent her career as a public defender.
- Myrna Pérez (Second Circuit), who had been a career voting rights advocate with the Brennan Center.
- Maria Kahn (Second Circuit), who worked with the state of Connecticut
- Nusrat Choudhury (Eastern District of New York), who had been the deputy director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program.
- Dale Ho (Southern District of New York), who had defended the freedom to vote with the ACLU.
- Nina Morrison (Eastern District of New York), who helped correct injustices through her work at the Innocence Project.
- Tiffany Cartwright (Western District of Washington), who was a civil rights litigator helping people seek justice for police misconduct and sex discrimination.
- Sarah Russell (District of Connecticut), who was a professor with expertise in criminal justice reform.
The Job Isn’t Done
The current session of Congress ends at noon on January 3. Democrats control the Senate until then. One of the best ways to protect us from the approaching abuses of the Trump administration is to confirm the three remaining circuit court nominees.
Adeel Mangi (Third Circuit) was born in Pakistan and is the first Muslim American ever nominated to a federal appeals court. He has done numerous cases for free to protect people’s rights. For instance, he represented the family of an incarcerated mentally ill man killed by New York prison guards. He also represented Muslims in two New Jersey cities who were illegally denied permits to build mosques by local authorities. As a judge, he would protect the rights of all people in the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Karla Campbell (Sixth Circuit) would bring 15 years of litigation experience representing working people to the bench. She has spent her career representing employees, unions, and labor benefit plans. When working people have had their rights violated by those with power over them, they have been able to turn to Campbell for help. Her confirmation would add important professional diversity to the Sixth Circuit, whose rulings determine the rights of people in Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.
Julia Lipez (First Circuit) is a state court judge in Maine. She previously worked as a federal prosecutor. Advocates who work against domestic violence and human trafficking have praised her work with the Justice Department. The Maine State Bar Association informed the Judiciary Committee that Judge Lipez is “an incredibly gifted jurist” who has earned the respect of the state’s lawyers. When confirmed, she would be a fair judge serving the people of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island.
Abandoning these nominees is also abandoning the people who live in the states covered by the First, Third, and Sixth Circuits. They are not just being denied the benefits of highly qualified judges who will protect their rights. The people Donald Trump would choose to fill these vacancies will be empowered to cause great harm to the people in those circuits.
The Road Ahead
We know from Trump’s first term the kind of people he will put on the court with the help of a Republican-controlled Senate. We are all at risk.
It is incumbent on us to keep talking about what our courts should be.
And we must tell our senators: We have a right to fair courts. If senators vote to confirm nominees like Brett Kavanaugh, Matthew Kacsmaryk, or Aileen Cannon, then we will hold them accountable for the damage those judges cause.
As we enter a dark time, we will continue to work toward our next opportunity to move forward in the long-term struggle to turn our courts into the bastions of fairness and justice they should be.