US Senate set to approve 235th judge of Biden's term, beating Trump's tally

President Joe Biden is expected to secure the 235th judicial confirmation of his presidency as soon as Friday, an accomplishment that exceeds his predecessor's total by one after Democrats put extra emphasis on the federal courts following Donald Trump's far-reaching first term when he filled three seats to the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has teed up votes on two potential California district judges, likely to be the last judicial confirmations this year before the Congress adjourns and makes way for a new, Republican-led Senate. He said he hoped to complete the votes by the end of Friday.

The first confirmation will tie Trump's number, the second will break it. Come next year, Republicans will look to boost Trump's already considerable influence on the makeup of the federal judiciary in his second term.

Biden and Senate Democrats placed particular focus on adding women, minorities and public defenders to the judicial rank. About two-thirds of Biden's appointees are women and a majority of appointees are people of colour. The most notable appointee was Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African-American woman to serve on the nation's highest court.


"Prior to our effort, the number of women on the federal bench was really diminished. It was overwhelmingly white males," said Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We consciously moved forward to bring more women to the bench, and believe me, we had a great talent pool to work with. So I think it'll enhance the image of the court and its work product to bring these new judges on."

Biden also placed an emphasis on bringing more civil rights lawyers, public defenders and labour rights lawyers to expand the professional backgrounds of the federal judiciary. More than 45 appointees are public defenders and more than two dozen served as civil rights lawyers.

While Biden did get more district judges confirmed than Trump, he had fewer of higher-tier circuit court appointments than Trump - 45 compared to 54 for Trump. And he got one Supreme Court appointment compared to three for Trump. Republicans, much to Democrats frustration, filled Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat on the court the week before the 2020 presidential election. Ginsburg had passed away in September.

Democrats also faced the challenge of confirming nominees during two years of a 50-50 Senate. Rarely a week went by in the current Congress when Schumer did not tee up votes on a judicial confirmation as liberal groups urged Democrats to show the same kind of urgency on judges that Republicans exhibited under Trump.