As you well know, the President of the United States, by title alone, has their hands in many, many things. But few of them have such quick or lasting effects as judiciary nomination. While policies on immigration, laws on gun control, and reform for our election process may take weeks or months, if not years to put into place fully, having a judge of their preferences is accomplished in much less time usually.
As Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton recently told the press, “It’s really remarkable how quickly a president can put their stamp on the judiciary. It’s an area where a president can have a quick impact.”
Take former President Donald Trump, for instance.
During his tenure at the White House, he appointed no less than 234 judges to the bench. That means more than a quarter of all federal judges are now Trump-appointed conservatives. And a whopping 54 of those placed in the influential court of appeals, as Lawrence Hurley recently pointed out.
To top that off, he was able to get three justices confirmed to the Supreme Court. No president has been able to appoint more than two justices to the High Court since the 1980s when Ronald Reagan sat in the Oval Office.
These justices and judges are now leading our courts to make conservative-based decisions on matters all around the nation and will continue to do so until their tenure is up.
However, it appears President Joe Biden is anxious to make the same kind of mark, as he has recently announced his first 11 judicial nominees. Most new presidents only manage to put forward two or three judicial nominations by April of their first year.
But as of right now, it’s unclear whether the quickness of his move will pay off for the ever-liberal-leaning president.
Why?
To answer that, we need to first look at the list of those recently nominated by Biden.
At the top is DC District Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the DC Circuit Court left vacant by newly appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland. It is assumed that if Jackson is confirmed for the seat, she will one day make it to the Supreme Court, as she already receives high praise from the left-wing backed media outlets, and the DC Circuit Court is known to be a feeder of sorts for the High Court.
Others nominated by the president include Federal Claims Court Judge Lydia Griggsby and Magistrate Judge Deborah Boardman for the Maryland District Court, civil rights and criminal lawyer Margaret Strickland for the New Mexico District Court, former federal prosecutor Regina Rodriguez for the Colorado District Court, and county council and administrator Julien Neals for New Jersey’s District Court.
Also included are patent litigator Tiffany Cunningham to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, public defender Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, magistrate judge Zahid N. Quraishi to the New Jersey District Court, and DC Superior Court judge Florence Y Pan to the DC District Court to succeed Jackson, should she be confirmed.
But as several, including Fitton, have noticed, most of these nominees to be based not on merit but race or demographic. Of those listed above, 9 are women, and only one is not of minority descent.
Now, I’m not saying that means they aren’t qualified for the positions they have been nominated for. Biden certainly thinks they are, as noted in his Tuesday announcement, “This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession. Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people…”
However, given Biden’s former promise to deliver a diverse cabinet, a black, female Supreme Court nominee, the first Muslim federal judge, and the rise of three black female jurists, it gives the idea that these nominees are simply checking the right boxes for Biden.
As Fitton explains, “They look to be nominees of the left, with a focus on racial characteristics, which is unfortunate. We should be focusing on picking folks based on merit, and his desire to kind of check the various categories and demographics, as opposed to, you know, it undermines the candidates themselves.”
Indeed, it does.
Of course, there is no guarantee that Biden will get these appointments. As the Senate stands, the Democratic majority is slim, and there is more than one Dem senator known to swing on matters such as these. Then again, the same can be said of a few Republicans.
