Tweet Share Share Comment This Thanksgiving, with wars overseas and fears heightening over the potential return to office of a would-be autocrat, it may feel as if there’s not much to be thankful for on the political front. However, President Joe Biden and the U.S. Senate deserve gratitude for a major success of his first three years in office: judicial appointments. Indeed, one of Biden’s greatest domestic successes has been to revitalize and improve smooth, fair processes to nominate and confirm well-qualified, mainstream judicial candidates who are diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ideology, and experience. When campaigning for president and governing since the election, Biden pledged to enhance selection by restoring and improving certain nomination and confirmation rules and customs that former President Donald Trump and two GOP Senate majorities had severely undercut. Biden also promised to counter his predecessor’s appointment of three extremely ideologically conservative justices, 54 similar circuit judges, and 178 comparatively analogous district jurists, even as Trump left 50 district vacancies, by confirming a diverse set of nominees. The president has honored these vows since January 2021.
On Nov. 7, Biden and the Senate reached several milestones. They confirmed Biden’s 150th appointment to the judiciary, eclipsing the number of judges Trump had confirmed by Nov. 7, 2019. Moreover, 100 Biden appointees comprise women and people of color. He also confirmed 50 Black jurists, in stark contrast to Trump, who neglected to select one Black appellate nominee. They include Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation as the first Black woman to become a Supreme Court justice. Biden also recently confirmed the 30th Hispanic judge of his presidency, an achievement that surpassed all other presidents’ first terms.
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Read More Biden and senators have enjoyed these successes by reviving and enhancing the nomination and confirmation processes. He assiduously consults Democratic and Republican senators from states with openings, urging members to rigorously solicit applications from, interview, and recommend highly qualified, moderate, diverse candidates. The White House flexibly collaborates with senators to agree on the finest choices. The administration encourages robust, comprehensive, swift FBI background checks and similar American Bar Association evaluations and ratings. Most Biden nominees earned well-qualified ratings, the ABA’s highest.
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The White House then cooperates with the Senate and individual lawmakers to rigorously, promptly, and fairly scrutinize the nominees. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Judiciary Committee chair, has substantial responsibility for insuring that the chamber robustly, speedily, and equitably considers nominees. Both parties’ staff members carefully analyze nominees and schedule hearings, which Durbin attempts to conduct every other week the Senate meets. Panel members question nominees in five-minute rounds. Several weeks later, members comprehensively discuss nominee qualifications and vote. Nominees with majority ballots move to the floor for confirmation debates and cloture and confirmation votes.
This Thanksgiving, Americans should thank Biden and the Senate for filling many vacancies with highly qualified, mainstream, diverse jurists who facilitate expeditious, inexpensive, and fair case resolution while delivering justice. As 2023 ends, Democrats and Republicans must redouble their efforts to robustly, promptly, and fairly fill the maximum number of openings with excellent, centrist, diverse judges for the good of litigants, the courts, the presidency, the Senate, and the country.
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The One Piece of Political News to Be Grateful for This Thanksgiving
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22.11.2023
Tweet Share Share Comment This Thanksgiving, with wars overseas and fears heightening over the potential return to office of a would-be autocrat, it may feel as if there’s not much to be thankful for on the political front. However, President Joe Biden and the U.S. Senate deserve gratitude for a major success of his first three years in office: judicial appointments. Indeed, one of Biden’s greatest domestic successes has been to revitalize and improve smooth, fair processes to nominate and confirm well-qualified, mainstream judicial candidates who are diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ideology, and experience. When campaigning for president and governing since the election, Biden pledged to enhance selection by restoring and improving certain nomination and confirmation rules and customs that former President Donald Trump and two GOP Senate majorities had severely undercut. Biden also promised to counter his predecessor’s appointment of three extremely ideologically conservative justices, 54 similar circuit judges, and 178 comparatively analogous district jurists, even as Trump left 50 district vacancies,........
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