ICYMI: President Biden's 150th Life-Tenured Federal Judges Confirmed

This week, President Biden won confirmation of his 150th life-tenured federal judge, a major milestone in the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to appoint highly qualified jurists dedicated to fairness and impartiality, the rule of law, and the Constitution.

The President has honored a core campaign promise, setting records when it comes to demographic and professional diversity of judicial appointees and ensuring that the federal Judiciary looks like the nation.

Read coverage below:

Huff Post: Joe Biden Has Confirmed 150 Federal Judges. 100 Of Them Are Women.
[Jennifer Bendery, 11/08/23]

President Joe Biden hit a milestone on Tuesday […] He's put 150 people into lifetime federal judgeships – and of those, 100 are women and 98 are people of color. […]

Senior officials gave credit to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for ushering through so many of Biden's court picks.

"Working closely with Leader Schumer and Judiciary Chair Durbin, the Biden-Harris administration has made enormous strides when it comes to the appointment of Article III judges, nearly matching the confirmation pace of the Trump-Pence administration despite inheriting far fewer judicial vacancies," reads a Tuesday memo released by White House counsel Ed Siskel, Office of Legislative Affairs Director Shuwanza Goff and Office of Public Engagement Director Stephen Benjamin. […]

What's more interesting about Biden's judges is how historically diverse they are, not only in terms of demographic factors like race and gender but also in terms of professional backgrounds.

One hundred of his 150 judges are women. That's nearly double the number of female judges that Trump confirmed during his entire time in the White House, and it's already more than any other president confirmed in a first term in office.

Biden is perhaps most proud to have put Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson onto the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to ever serve there.

Reuters: Biden secures 150th judicial confirmation with US Senate votes
[Nate Raymond, 11/7/23]

President Joe Biden on Tuesday secured his 150th federal judicial appointment after the Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted to confirm two new judges in California and Massachusetts, a tally that includes a record-breaking 100 women named to the bench.[…]

With those votes, Biden has secured Senate approval of more women to the federal bench than any other president in his first four-year term, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.

"Two-thirds of the judges we have confirmed are women, redressing an imbalance that existed for centuries," Schumer said.

In a joint memo, White House officials led by Ed Siskel, the White House counsel, called the confirmation of 150 life-tenured judges a "major milestone" and "just the start."

The Hill: Biden celebrates 'important milestone' after Senate confirms his 150th federal judge
[Brett Samuels, 11/8/23]

President Biden on Tuesday took a victory lap after the Senate confirmed his 150th judicial nominee since he took office, a significant milestone as the White House seeks to put its stamp on the judiciary.

Biden in a statement called it "one of the great responsibilities" for a president to appoint federal judges. […]

The White House has stressed the diversity of his nominees for the federal bench, both in terms of gender and race as well as professional background. Two-thirds of Biden's confirmed nominees have been women, and nearly two-thirds are people of color, he said. He has nominated public defenders, civil rights lawyers, labor attorneys and others.

And he nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, who last year became the first Black woman to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

NBC News: Senate confirms Biden's 150th judge
[Sahil Kapur, 11/8/23]

President Joe Biden has hit a milestone as the Democratic-led Senate confirmed his 150th federal judge.
Back-to-back votes Tuesday made Kenly Kiya Kato and Julia Kobick district court judges in California and Massachusetts, respectively, totaling 113 district court judges chosen by Biden.

He has also secured lifetime appointments for 36 appeals court judges — who have the final word on most matters of federal law — and one Supreme Court justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it "a very important day in the Senate." […]

Reshaping the courts with more public defenders and greater diversity has been a high priority for Biden and Schumer. In four years, former President Donald Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky steered through 234 federal judges — most of them young, conservative and poised to serve for decades — including three Supreme Court justices who tilted the court to the right and paved the way for the landmark ruling last year that overturned Roe v. Wade.