US Senate confirms final 2 Biden judges, adding to diversity records

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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (C) delivers remarks during an event celebrating her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court with U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Vice President Kamala Harris (R) on the South Lawn of the White House on April 08, 2022 in Washington, DC.( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Joe Biden鈥檚 number of lifetime appointments to the federal bench surpassed the first Trump administration鈥檚 Friday and set records as the most diverse selection of judges by any president in U.S. history, according to federal judiciary observers.

The U.S. Senate, late in its final session of the year, confirmed what are expected to be the final two of Biden鈥檚 nominations, bringing his total number of judicial confirmations to 235, just one more than President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 first-term total.

Senators voted along party lines to confirm Benjamin J. Cheeks to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of California, in a vote of聽49-47, and Serena Raquel Murillo to be U.S. district Judge for the Central District of California, in the same vote breakdown.

Cheeks marks the 63rd Senate-confirmed Black judge appointed by Biden, and Murillo the 150th woman.

Four senators did not vote, including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance of Ohio, Trump鈥檚 secretary of State nominee, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, newly sworn Sen. Adam Schiff of California, and the outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Senate control will be in Republican hands after the new Congress is sworn in Jan. 3, almost certainly shutting the door on any Biden nominations before Trump鈥檚 Jan. 20 inauguration.

Among Biden鈥檚 appointments, 187 were seated on district courts, 45 on federal appeals courts, and one, Ketanji Brown Jackson, on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as two to the Court of International Trade.

Biden issued a statement Friday night marking the 鈥渕ajor milestone.鈥

鈥淲hen I ran for President, I promised to build a bench that looks like America and reflects the promise of our nation. And I鈥檓 proud I kept my commitment to bolstering confidence in judicial decision-making and outcomes,鈥 Biden said.

鈥淚 am proud of the legacy I will leave with our nation鈥檚 judges,鈥 Biden said, closing out his statement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer touted the 鈥渉istoric鈥 accomplishment on the Senate floor following the vote.

鈥淲e鈥檝e confirmed more judges than under the Trump administration, more judges than any administration in this century, more judges than any administration going back decades. One out of every four active judges on the bench has been appointed by this majority,鈥 Schumer said.

He and members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary delivered a聽press conference聽immediately after.

Historic racial and gender diversity

Observers who monitor the demographics and professional backgrounds represented on the federal bench celebrated the 鈥渞emarkable and historic progress鈥 made under Biden, according to a Friday聽memo聽from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Biden set records for appointing the most women and more Black, Native American, Latino and Latina, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander judges than during any other presidency of any length, according to the organization鈥檚 analysis.

The Senate confirmed 15 Black judges to the federal appeals courts during Biden鈥檚 term, 13 of them women. Only eight Black women had ever served at this level of the federal judiciary, according to the analysis.

On the district court level, Biden appointed the first lifetime judges of color to four districts that had only ever been represented by white judges. They include districts in Louisiana, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia.

Biden also appointed, and the Senate confirmed, 12聽openly LGBTQ judges, three of them women; the first four Muslim judges ever to reach the federal bench; and two judges currently living with disabilities.

鈥淥ur federal court system has historically failed to live up to its promise of equal justice under the law,鈥 the Leadership Conference鈥檚 Friday memo stated. 鈥淔or far too long, our judges have disproportionately been white, cisgender, heterosexual men who have possessed very narrow legal experiences as corporate attorneys or government prosecutors. Judges decide cases that impact all of our rights and freedoms, and it is vital that our judges come from more varied backgrounds both personally and professionally.鈥

Nearly 100 of Biden鈥檚 appointments previously worked as civil rights lawyers or public defenders,聽according聽to the leadership conference, including Jackson who was the first former public defender elevated to the Supreme Court.

Biden鈥檚 confirmed judges stood in contrast to Trump鈥檚 picks who, the American Constitution Society noted,聽lacked聽gender and racial diversity.

According to聽data聽published by the Pew Research Center at the close of Trump鈥檚 first term, the now president-elect was more likely than previous Republican presidents to nominate women but still lagged behind recent Democratic administrations.

Pew also found that Trump had appointed fewer non-white federal judges than other recent presidents.

Blocked nominee faults Islamophobia

But not everyone praised the Senate鈥檚 advice-and-consent role in evaluating federal nominees. Adeel Mangi, the first Muslim American to be nominated for the appeals court level, criticized Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for asking Islamophobic questions.

In a聽letter聽to Biden, published by the New York Times and other outlets, Mangi slammed the process as 鈥渇undamentally broken鈥 and questioned the reasoning behind three Democratic senators who joined Republicans in opposing him.

鈥淭his is no longer a system for evaluating fitness for judicial office. It is now a channel for the raising of money based on performative McCarthyism before video cameras, and for the dissemination of dark-money-funded attacks that especially target minorities,鈥 wrote Mangi, of New Jersey, whom Biden nominated for a position on the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Other blocked nominations included Julia M. Lipez of Maine, nominated for the First Circuit, Karla M. Campbell of Tennessee for the Sixth Circuit, and Ryan Young Park of North Carolina for the Fourth Circuit.

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