Bringing greater diversity to our federal courts has been one of the most important and lasting accomplishments of President Joe Biden and Sen. Dick Durbin during the Biden presidency. We applaud their work, and yet, there is substantially more work to be done to bring balance and diversity to our courts to better reflect the makeup of the U.S. population they serve to ensure more equitable and balanced decisions.
As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Durbin, D-Ill., plays a critical role in making sure the Senate confirms as many highly qualified nominees as possible. Right now, the Senate has an opportunity to fill many more judicial vacancies, leaving none open when this session of Congress concludes in December. We agree with statements Durbin made recently about moving forward with the committee’s work and not allowing obstructionist efforts to cause delays in getting nominees confirmed. We encourage him to cancel the planned August recess so as to hold committee hearings during that month.
The number of announced judicial vacancies has risen to at least 119 with little time left in this Congress to fill these vacancies. At the current pace, we will see dozens of these vacancies remain unfilled at the end of the year. As concerned citizens of Illinois and this fragile nation, we urge Durbin to do whatever it takes to fill them all. The future of our justice system depends on this.
We have just witnessed a terrifying session of the Supreme Court in which, for the first time, rights were actually taken away from people with the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and made women in this nation second-class citizens. We also saw this same court elevate one set of religious beliefs over others and decimate the ability of our government to act on climate change and possibly on regulating the control of carrying guns in public places. The abandonment of precedent and the ignoring of fundamental rights by this Supreme Court are alarming and require immediate attention. It is critical to act with urgency to ensure that the lower court vacancies are filled with high-quality, nonpartisan jurists. Durbin and the president have the opportunity to make that happen.
Biden and Durbin have forged an important partnership in bringing more diversity to the federal courts. In under two years in office, Biden has made 123 federal judicial nominations. More than 70% of those nominees have been women, and more than 68% have been people of color. These nominees also provide important professional diversity, helping bring balance to a judiciary that has been dominated by corporate lawyers and prosecutors. More than half of these new judges have come from diverse professional backgrounds, such as public defenders, civil rights lawyers and union-side labor lawyers. Durbin helped set modern records for the most judges confirmed in a president’s first year in office. He deserves great credit for this.
The Senate is planning to go on recess in August. We believe that staying in session is a better plan. Biden recently nominated the most judges he has ever nominated in a single week, and unless the committee acts, many of those nominees will be left waiting until September at the earliest for a hearing. That means less space for additional nominees to be put forward and confirmed. We need as many nominees confirmed as quickly as possible. We also urge Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to keep the Senate in session through August so senators can vote on these highly qualified nominees once they are confirmed by the Judiciary Committee. These Senate confirmations take time, and they, too, should not be postponed to the fall. We are encouraged by Durbin’s recent statement indicating that he might expand the number of nominees who could be considered at a hearing, thus somewhat improving the pace. This is a step in the right direction, but staying in session in August will make this effort even more effective.
We have witnessed the blockading of votes on judicial candidates — recall Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court — and that could be our reality again after January. Given this possibility, it seems essential that the Judiciary Committee redouble its efforts to quickly fill every judicial vacancy with outstanding and diverse judges.
Reshaping our federal courts will surely be one of this administration’s and this Senate’s most lasting legacies, and the courts will have a significant impact on every important issue for decades to come. Our nation’s future may well depend on it.
