[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 83 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2499-S2500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NOMINATIONS

  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

[[Page S2500]]

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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