The Senate Has Now Confirmed 50 Black Judges to Federal Bench Under Biden

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) celebrated the milestone of the Senate having confirmed 50 Black judges to the federal bench under President Biden.

Schumer shared on Twitter:

In floor remarks, Schumer made the point that the courts now look more like America, which is an essential step in addressing systemic judicial disparity for minorities. Overall, they will have confirmed 100 people of color and 50 Black judges.

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“Today, the Senate will hit two more significant milestones. After we confirm Monica Almadani and Brandy McMillion today, this Senate Majority will have confirmed fifty Black judges and one hundred people of color to the bench,” Schumer said in floor remarks.

“Democrats are making our courts look more like America: this majority has confirmed more women, more Black people, more people of color to the bench, than any full first term of any previous president. That’s a record to be proud of.”

Under President Trump, just sixteen percent of judicial nominations were people of color. Under President Biden and this Senate Majority, one hundred of the now more than one hundred fifty judges have been people of color.

On Wednesday, the White House touted that 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.”

They pointed out that this was something Biden ran on. “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.”

There is only so much time in Congressional chambers, and it’s used to address priorities. Moving these confirmations through has been important to the administration, and to the Majority Leader.

It’s an important step toward more equitable justice, but of course, anyone who has become a judge has had a very different life than many of the people they will make decisions about. So it’s not perfect. But it is better. Much better.

We’ve also seen a willingness by Black women in law enforcement to hold white men of power to account with the same energy that white men bring to holding Black people accountable for smaller crimes.

All of these judges will transform the U.S. judicial system over time, making it a more just process.

Sarah Jones

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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

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