It’s a grim moment for anyone who cares about ensuring that there are federal protections for people routinely facing discrimination or economic disadvantages. But there is something else happening in the background that gives reason for hope: Senate Democrats have been rapidly filling federal judgeships with people with backgrounds in civil rights, abortion rights, voting rights and defending people too poor to afford their own lawyers. And some of these new judges are potential contenders for future Supreme Court seats.
The court’s latest decisions, which were all handed down in 6-3 rulings along ideological lines, are precisely the endgame that conservatives have been working toward. For decades, they’ve been laser-focused on reshaping the courts as Democrats dithered. It’s no coincidence that all six of the court’s GOP-appointed justices are members of the ultraconservative legal organization the Federalist Society, or that all were essentially handpicked by the same powerful Federalist Society leader, Leonard Leo, to become Supreme Court justices.
In the last three weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) lined up and confirmed six of Biden’s most trailblazing judicial nominees to date, some of whom are certainly contenders for future Supreme Court seats. All are civil rights attorneys. All have been priorities for progressive judicial advocacy groups. All are relatively young, meaning they likely have decades ahead of them in their lifetime appointments. And all bring badly needed diversity to the federal bench.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national civil and human rights organizations, also hailed the recent wave of confirmations of civil rights attorneys, declaring on Twitter, “THIS is the kind of judiciary our nation needs & deserves.”
The timing, amid a flurry of notable — and controversial — federal court cases at the Supreme Court, stands out, too. Most of Biden’s recently confirmed judges had been waiting for their votes for months, if not for more than a year, due to stiff GOP opposition and Democratic absences in a Senate where Democrats hold a razor-thin 51-49 majority. Ho’s confirmation had stalled for more than 650 days.
Schumer had to wait for every single Democrat to be in Washington in order to schedule all of these nominees’ votes, or at least have enough Democrats present to outnumber the Republicans present. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was out for months battling shingles. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was out for weeks getting mental health treatment.
“Whether public defenders, civil rights, legal aid, election, or voting rights attorneys – we’ve fought for judicial diversity to ensure each potential judge has the background and experiences to build a more fair and equitable America,” Schumer told HuffPost in a statement. “Senate Democrats have worked to make a judicial system that better reflects our country.”
All six of these recently confirmed judges fit into Biden’s broader push to bring badly needed diversity to the federal bench, both in terms of demographics like race or gender and in terms of professional backgrounds. With Schumer’s help in the Senate, the president has confirmed record numbers of public defenders and civil rights attorneys to lifetime federal judgeships, a shift from the more traditional corporate lawyers tapped for these jobs.
Biden has confirmed a total of 136 people to lifetime federal judgeships ― more than the past three presidents had confirmed by this point in their presidencies. As of last month, 66% of his nominees have been women and 70% of his judges who have been confirmed have been women. Additionally, 65% of his nominees have been people of color, and 64% of his judges that have been confirmed have been people of color.
“President Biden told the American people he would make upholding the rule of law with deeply qualified judicial nominees who represent the diversity of our nation a core priority. Fulfilling that promise is one of his proudest accomplishments,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
“The ill-founded and disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court are a stark reminder that it will take a sustained effort to rebalance our federal courts and restore the values that have made the United States a beacon for freedom, democracy, equality, and opportunity,” Schumer said in a statement. “Senate Democrats will continue to approve fellow Americans for the federal courts who far better reflect the values, diversity, experiences, and perspectives of the American public.”
This content was originally published here.