[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4735-S4736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, before we reach the conclusion of the 
June work period, the Senate will confirm yet another one of President 
Biden's highly qualified nominees to the Federal Bench: Candace 
Jackson-Akiwumi to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
  A graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School, Ms. Jackson-Akiwumi left 
a career at a big law firm to work for 10 years as a Federal defender 
in Illinois. She was a voice in the courtroom for Americans who often 
had no one else to speak for them: the mentally ill, folks who could 
not afford an attorney.
  We have plenty of former prosecutors and corporate lawyers on the 
bench. Ms. Jackson-Akiwumi would bring a sorely needed perspective. The 
more our courts reflect our country as a whole, the more faith 
Americans will have in the equal application of the law.
  Ms. Jackson-Akiwumi will make an outstanding addition to the Seventh 
Circuit, and I urge all my colleagues to vote for her later today.
  Now, I want to reflect for a moment on the pace of judicial 
nominations in the Democratic-led Senate so far this year. Typically, 
the first several months of a new administration don't feature a ton of 
judicial nominations. New Presidents often have ambitious legislative 
agendas, and it takes a lot of time for a new President to make 
appointments and to get them to go through all of the background checks 
and for the Judiciary Committee to advance nominees to the floor. So in 
administrations past, the first 6 months are a fallow period for 
judges.
  For all the focus that the Republican leader put on judges during the 
previous administration, the Senate only confirmed one--one district or 
circuit judge--before July 4 in the first year of Donald Trump's 
Presidency. By the end of today, the Senate will have confirmed more 
judges this week than in all 6 months of Donald Trump's first year in 
office.
  In fact, with the confirmations this week, the Senate will have 
confirmed more district and circuit court judges to the Federal bench 
in the first 6 months of President Biden's first year than any other 
administration in 50 years.
  Let me say that again so people hear, because I know there is a lot 
of worry--justified--that President Trump shifted the bench so far to 
the right that we need to rebalance it, and we need to make that a very 
high priority. Well, we have. After the confirmation of Ms. Jackson-
Akiwumi, the Senate will have confirmed more district and circuit court 
judges in the first year of a

[[Page S4736]]

Presidency in over 50 years, including the first 6 months of Donald 
Trump's Presidency. So we are making good, good progress, and we have 
done it with judges who break the Federal mold--Federal defenders, 
civil rights lawyers, voting rights lawyers, the first Native American 
judge, the first Muslim American judge. Those make me proud that we are 
constantly expanding who in America can get to the bench. All of these 
folks have one thing in common: They are individuals of impeccable 
character and impressive credentials.
  The Democratic Senate is restoring balance to the judiciary with 
highly qualified, mainstream jurists who reflect the diversity of this 
country, and we are going to keep at it when we come back in July and 
beyond

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