President Joe Biden sets the record for appointing more black judges than any other president. Biden’s decision was based on nominees with experience, who were underrepresented in the pool of candidates for lifetime trial court and appellate positions.
His appointments include elevating the first Muslim American man and the first Muslim American woman to life-tenured judgeships. Biden’s total appointments of 40 women of color, make up two-fifths of the judges he nominated.
Biden’s judicial record now includes 235 lifetime appointments, including 187 judges to trial courts, 45 to circuit courts, two to the US Court of International Trade, and one Supreme Court justice. Biden’s 44 appellate judges comprise about a quarter of the circuit’s current bench.
When determining what qualities make a successful federal judge, Biden’s emphasis on professional and demographic diversity sets a new benchmark for upcoming Democratic administrations.
Biden’s historic increase in the federal judiciary’s demographic and professional diversity was best illustrated by his appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman justice and the first with experience in public defense to the Supreme Court.
Jackson was his lone Supreme Court nomination, with Donald Trump, his predecessor and current successor, nominating three. This may complicate his judicial legacy, as Trump created a conservative supermajority on the high court that reduced the authority of regulators, increased gun rights, restricted affirmative action, and reversed abortion rights.
Restoring balance in the courts was important for Biden and the Senate after Trump had filled the bench with primarily younger, white, and male conservatives.