Biden Achieves Record Diversity with 150th Federal Judicial Confirmation, Still Lags Behind Trump's Pace

Biden's record-breaking 150 judicial confirmations include historical firsts, with two-thirds of nominees being women and nearly as many people of color, but lack of vacancies on appellate courts and Senate "blue slip" tradition are slowing his pace compared to Trump's.

President Joe Biden marked a significant achievement on Tuesday by confirming his 150th federal judicial nomination since taking office. These confirmations include 113 district court judges, 36 appeals court judges, and one Supreme Court Justice, namely Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who is the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Biden's record-breaking 150 judicial confirmations have been celebrated for their remarkable diversity, with two-thirds of the nominees being women and nearly as many people of color. This includes 100 women and 98 people of color who have been given lifetime federal judgeships.
Despite these accomplishments, his pace of confirmations lags behind that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who had 234 federal judges confirmed by the end of his four-year term. The slowing down in Biden's confirmation rate is attributed to fewer vacancies on the bench compared to the time when Trump took office, and the Senate's 'blue slip' tradition that requires the president to consult with home-state senators before making selections.
A significant number of Biden's judicial appointments, 35 to be precise, were formerly public defenders and 23 were civil rights attorneys. This marks a departure from traditionally favored corporate lawyers for the job, and underscores Biden's commitment to appointing judges from underrepresented professional backgrounds.
The challenge moving forward for Biden's judicial milestones will be the sheer lack of vacancies on the appellate courts, which only have eight seats currently vacant. This is exacerbated by the blue slip rule requiring consultation with Republican senators before nominating to vacant circuit court seats.