Overview about the judicial appointment controversies of Joe Biden
President Joe Biden began his presidency with fewer vacancies to fill than his predecessor.[1][2] President Biden pledged to nominate people with diverse backgrounds and professional experience.[3] Biden has also pledged to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States.[4]
By the end of 2021, 41 judges had been confirmed, the most since Ronald Reagan.[1] By the end of his first year in office, Biden had nominated 73 individuals for federal judgeships, one more than president Donald Trump during the same point in his presidency.[5]
Supreme Court
Confirmed nominee
Supreme Court of the United States
- Ketanji Brown Jackson (of Washington, D.C.): On February 25, 2022, President Joe Biden announced that he would nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Stephen Breyer as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.[6][7][8][9] At the time of her pending nomination, Jackson is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to which she was appointed by Biden in 2021. On February 28, 2022, her nomination was sent to the Senate.[10] Her nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.[11] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell characterized Jackson as "the favored choice of far-left dark money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the court itself".[12] The Republican National Committee called Jackson "a radical, left-wing activist who would rubber stamp Biden’s disastrous agenda".[13][14] Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who had previously voted in favor of Jackson's confirmation to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, stated that the nomination "means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again".[14] Her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee opened on March 21.[15] After the Judiciary Committee deadlocked in an 11–11 vote, her nomination was advanced on April 4 by a 53–47 procedural vote in the Senate.[16][17][18] She was subsequently confirmed by the same margin on April 7, 2022.[19]