Biden Boasts of ‘Most Demographically Diverse’ Judges in History

by dap | Jan 2, 2025 | Daily Signal

With just 18 days left in his presidency, Joe Biden did a victory lap during a White House ceremony Thursday after appointing one more federal judge than his predecessor, Donald Trump. 

Biden will be leaving office on Jan. 20 with the Senate having confirmed 235 of his judicial nominees . That’s compared to the 234 that Trump appointed. Biden’s biggest advantage came with lower court judges. 

“I’ve appointed the most demographically diverse slate of judicial nominees ever in the history of America. It represents all of America, and the best of America,” the president said during the ceremony. “There are new historic firsts. The first black woman on the Supreme Court . I made that promise and kept it. More black women on the courts of appeals than every other previous administration in American history combined. Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, the list goes on.”

Biden was flanked by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., and outgoing Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin , D-Ill. Biden said their leadership in confirming the nominees was “invaluable,” quipping, “from my days leading the Senate Judiciary Committee 200 years ago.” Biden was chairman of the committee from 1987 to 1995.

Schumer, referencing incoming Trump returning to the Oval Office, declared, “These judges will be the shield that protects our democracy.”

“These judges come just in time. Our democracy faces an uncertain future, and many people are rightly worried,” Schumer said. “We hear incoming leaders saying things about undercutting the wellsprings of our democracy that make many Americans anxious. The hope is that these judges will be a barrier against attacks on our democratic institutions. At the district level, these judges will have the first and often decisive impact on cases involving voting rights and elections and democracy writ large.”

Durbin said, “More than one out of every four judges now serving on the judicial bench was nominated by this president.”

Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. A Democrat-controlled Senate confirmed 45 of his judicial nominees to the U.S. appeals courts, 187 to district judgeships, and two judges to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

However, the Senate confirmed three Trump nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, and 54 of his appeals court judges during his first term. He also gained three judicial confirmations to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The only area where Trump trailed Biden was in getting 174 judges appointed to U.S. district courts. 

Numerically, both still lag President Jimmy Carter for most judicial appointments in a single term. Carter, who died Dec. 29 at age 100, made 258 judicial appointments, though none to the Supreme Court, noted Thomas Jipping, senior legal fellow at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. He added that Congress expanded the number of federal judges in 1978, which gave Carter more to work with.

Further, Jipping noted that 80% of Biden’s judicial appointees replaced judges appointed by past Democratic presidents. By contrast, 65% of Trump’s appointees replaced judges appointed by Republican presidents. 

So, Trump’s appointments did more to change the judicial philosophy for courts at each level, Jipping said. 

“It’s not only the number of judges, but it’s the judges they replace,” said Jipping, who was dismissive of the White House event on Thursday. 

“It’s a little silly to have a ‘we-beat-Trump’ celebration if they beat him by one judge,” he told The Daily Signal. “I suppose he’s as happy as a third grader who beat his opponent in a foot race.”

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