Nominations
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on judges and on nominees, over the past several months, the Senate has moved quickly to confirm nominees to serve in President Biden's Cabinet and throughout his administration. The Senate also has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on the President's judicial nominations, and the Senate will begin to fill judicial vacancies very soon.
This morning, the Judiciary Committee is holding the first markup for a slate of President Biden's judicial nominations, including two circuit nominees and three district court nominees, who will all receive a vote in the committee next week. The Senate is now going to scale up our efforts to fill more than 80 vacancies in the Federal judiciary.
It is no secret that, lacking a robust legislative agenda, the Republican majority, under President Trump, focused on judges, confirming around 200. President Obama, in his 8 years, appointed 320. So even though, on a 4-year-to-4-year basis, Trump did more, overall, Obama had a greater effect on the judiciary than Trump.
Now, President Biden has the opportunity to fill more than 80 vacancies--likely more. Under this Democratic majority, the Senate will swiftly and routinely take up President Biden's appointments to the Federal bench. It will redress the imbalance that the Trump administration caused by choosing so many judges who were so far hard right, way out of the mainstream not just of the American people but even of the Republican Party.
Under this Democratic majority, we are going to swiftly and routinely take up President Biden's appointments to the Federal bench to restore some balance. And, I must say, President Biden's judicial candidates provide a stark contrast to the quality, to the caliber of President Trump's nominations. President Biden's nominees are qualified, mainstream, and actually reflect the diversity of the country. Many have spent years as public defenders, an experience that is sorely lacking on the Federal bench. They also include the first Native American to be nominated to the Federal court, the second-ever Puerto Rican, and the second Black woman to sit on the Second Circuit in my home State of New York. I am very proud of that.
That is a far cry from what we got under President Trump and then- Majority Leader McConnell. For 4 years, the Republican leader turned the Senate into a conveyor belt for inexperienced lawyers, many with deeply radical views on women's choice, voting rights, criminal justice, and civil rights. A few of them were so extreme on the issues of race and voting that Republican Senators joined with Democrats to reject those nominations.
With President Biden, we are going to bring balance back to the Federal judiciary by confirming judges who are beholden to the law, not some far-right agenda
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