December 14, 2024
Biden has appointed 40 black women to lifetime federal judgeships, the most of any president in one term.
President Joe Biden has appointed 233 federal judges during his presidencymany of whom are people of color. This is a historic milestone as the first president to appoint the most judges of color.
On December 9, the Senate has been confirmed Tiffany Johnson, President Biden’s latest judicial nominee for the Northern District of Georgia, NBC News reports. This is the 40th black woman he has appointed to lifetime federal judgeships, more than any president in one term.
White House data shows that about 60% of President Biden’s 233 judges are people of color. If Cheeks is confirmed, Biden would appoint 63 black federal judges, the most by any president in US history, according to the Conference on Civil and Human Rights Leaders.
It’s an achievement that Biden doesn’t take for granted and is “proud to have strengthened the judiciary, making it more representative of the country as a whole, and that legacy will have an impact for decades,” wrote White House communications director Ben Labolt: in an email statement.
After taking office in 2020, President Biden pledged to address disparities in the judiciary and make the federal bench more representative of the nation’s diversity.
“Even President Biden signaled to the Senate before he took office that he wanted to make sure that people who have historically been excluded from our judicial system,” said Lena Zwarenstein, senior director of the Fair Courts Program and an adviser to the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights .
Biden is currently tied with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton with 62 black federal judges, but is on track to surpass them after the next Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
“Research shows that when you have more judges who have different perspectives because they’ve worked on different kinds of problems or they’re from different communities, that improves decision-making and certainly improves confidence that communities can have to these institutions. So making sure we have fair-minded judges at all levels is really important.”
Senate Democrats vowed to approve as many President Biden’s nominations as possible before Republicans take control of the Senate in January and a potential Trump administration begins.
“This Senate will continue to work to confirm more of President Biden’s excellent judicial nominees,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. on Twitter last month.
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