President Biden has passed former President Donald Trump in first-year judicial confirmations and first-year nominations thanks to a Democratic-controlled Senate that is driven to limit the impact of Trump’s reshaping of the courts.
Biden on Wednesday announced the nomination of nine new judicial nominees, bringing the number of first-year nominations to 73. That’s one more than the 72 Trump nominated in his first year of 2017, according to CNN.
More significantly, though, Biden has surpassed Trump in confirmations with 28 in his first year – easily more than the roughly two dozen Trump nominees that were confirmed during his first year in office.
The pace does not mean Biden will surpass Trump’s impact on the courts for a four-year term – especially if Republicans retake the Senate in 2022. Further, Trump filled three seats on the Supreme Court while Biden has yet to face an opening – although some Democrats are urging Justice Stephen Breyer, an 83-year-old nominee of President Clinton, to retire.
Still, the pace shows that Biden, despite his low job approval ratings, is fulfilling his promise to those on the Left to make the courts a priority.
The White House, in a Wednesday news release, said the nine new nominees “are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.”
“These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country – both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the White House said.
When Biden took office, 30 percent of federal judges were Trump nominees – thanks largely in the Senate to then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made confirmation of Trump’s judges a priority. Biden also had only 49 vacancies to fill – less than half of what Trump had when he took office.
But as of Dec. 7, almost half of the judges Biden had nominated to the lower courts had been confirmed – a “larger share than Trump or former President Barack Obama,” the political blog FiveThirtyEight said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, like McConnell, has prioritized judicial confirmations.
“Thanks to @SenateDems, President Biden will have more lifetime judges confirmed in his first year in office than any president since Ronald Reagan,” Schumer tweeted. “And we will keep going in 2022.”
Thanks to @SenateDems, President Biden will have more lifetime judges confirmed in his first year in office than any president since Ronald Reagan.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 15, 2021
And we will keep going in 2022.
Biden’s impact on the courts was assisted by GOP infighting in January that allowed Democrats to sweep two Senate seats in Georgia and take control of that chamber. Under the U.S. Constitution, the Senate has the power to confirm judicial nominees.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Cindy Ord/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
