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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, Members are working around the clock to finish the year on a strong note. This week, the Senate will consider the bipartisan National Defense Authorization bill, which I hope we will send to the President's desk very soon. The NDAA has consistently been a bipartisan effort, and that is my expectation this year too.
On the nominations front, we are going to keep working as long as we can to confirm as many exceptional Biden nominees as possible. Since the start of the Biden administration, we have confirmed a total of 95--95--judicial nominees to the bench, including 1 Supreme Court Justice, 68 district judges, and 26--26--circuit court judges.
Let me say that again. Over the past 2 years, we have confirmed 95 new judges to the bench, including 26 circuit court judges, surpassing the first 2 years of the past two administrations.
Today, we will confirm judge No. 96 when we vote on Tamika Montgomery-Reeves to serve as a circuit judge on the Third Circuit. An alumnus of the University of Mississippi and Georgia Law School, Judge Montgomery-Reeves served as a clerk in Delaware before embarking on a successful career in private practice. In 2005, she was appointed to the Delaware Court of Chancery and then to the State supreme court in 2020, becoming the first Black woman to ever serve in either court.
When confirmed, Judge Montgomery-Reeves will join in the proud company of so many other Biden appointees who, little by little, are reshaping our courts for the better. Of the 95 judges we have confirmed to date, 71 are women, about 75 percent; 65 are people of color, almost 70 percent; 45 are women of color, nearly 50 percent; and 23 are Black women, nearly 25 percent.
We have never seen a class of new judges that brings so much diversity, variety, and dynamism in a single 2-year stretch.
And, of course, it is not just the diversity of demography that matters. In the last 2 years, the Senate has confirmed more civil rights lawyers, public defenders, election attorneys, immigration lawyers than we typically see in this Chamber. It is a big reason today why our courts are more balanced and more dynamic and more experienced than they were 2 years ago.
You can be sure that judges will remain a top priority in the Congress to come. More judges mean a more balanced judiciary, and a more balanced judiciary will mean greater trust in our courts in the long run--so important for our country at this moment in time because the MAGA Supreme Court and so many of these other MAGA judges have caused people to lose faith in the courts.
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