Democrats rush to approve judges, give Biden as many confirmations as Trump

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he wants to confirm every one of President Biden’s pending judicial nominations before Republicans take control of Washington in January. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said there are currently 16 nominees pending on the Senate floor and several more in committee. 

If Democrats are able to get all pending nominations approved, plus those who have their confirmation hearings before Thanksgiving, President Biden will at least tie the number of judicial confirmations President Trump had in his first term with 234. 

“There is no time to waste. The Senate must confirm every one of these highly qualified, diverse nominees before the sun sets on the 118th Congress,” Durbin said during a speech on the Senate floor.  “The American people deserve nothing less.”

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Durbin has been chairman of the Judiciary Committee for the entirety of the Biden administration and so far they’ve approved 214 judges to lifetime positions.  

“When you take a look at the situation in the Senate during this period of time, it was a 50-50 split in the membership of the Senate for two years. And [we had] a very small majority in the other two years and yet, we were able to get this job done,” Durbin said.

Of the 16 pending nominees, four are for the circuit court and 12 are district court. The voting schedule is set by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is prioritizing their confirmation. 

A simple majority vote is necessary to confirm a judge. Because of the Senate’s 51-49 Democratic majority, Democrats can approve a judge without the help of Republicans. However, Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., has previously said he would vote no on confirmations if the nominee does not have bipartisan support, which could sink their confirmation. 

Durbin said he is particularly proud of the nominee’s demographic and professional diversity. He said in the last four years, the Senate has confirmed more former public defenders as circuit judges than every previous president combined. 

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“We have confirmed more Black women to the federal circuit courts than all prior presidents combined. We confirmed the first-ever Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—a point of personal privilege and pride for me,” Durbin said.