ACS Celebrates 234th and 235th Judicial Confirmations; ‘A Great Day for Our Federal Judiciary and the American People’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez, media@acslaw.org

Washington, D.C. -- The Senate today confirmed Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheeks to the U.S. District Court for Southern California, and Judge Serena Murillo to the U.S. District Court for Central California, bringing the total number of Article III judges confirmed during the Biden Administration to 235. The Trump Administration confirmed 234 judges during its first term.

American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold released the following statement in response to this hard fought and significant achievement:

“This is a great day for our federal judiciary and the American people. The American Constitution Society applauds President Biden’s commitment to the federal courts and for nominating diverse, qualified candidates, and the Senate for its commitment to fill as many vacancies as possible over the past four years. The President has made history in the number and diversity of his candidates, moving our federal judiciary closer to reflecting the public it serves and fortifying all Americans’ confidence in our judiciary. Our federal courts are on the frontlines of nearly every policy issue that touches each of us, from voting rights, reproductive freedom and civil rights, and it is essential we have judges who are committed to the rule of law and to vindicating our fundamental freedoms presiding over our courts.

This administration has broken barriers that previously kept diverse candidates out of the federal judiciary. In this administration we saw the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson who became the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. We also saw the first Muslim American federal judge confirmed, Zahid Quraishi. President Biden has also prioritized professional diversity by confirming judges with experience as public defenders and civil rights lawyers – perspectives historically underrepresented on the federal bench.

The effort to rebalance our judiciary with qualified and diverse, nonpartisan judges has been and will continue to be a critical priority for ACS. The fight in Congress is not over. ACS believes strongly that all judicial nominees should receive a vote and that ceding any vacancy to the incoming administration, which has shown again and again its disdain for the rule of law, is short-sighted and will ultimately lead to further erosion of our rights. We urge the Senate to continue confirming judges.

Today’s achievement is a testament to our work and our dedicated grassroots network and Path to the Bench working groups. Since 2018, ACS’s Path to the Bench working groups have worked locally to identify a pipeline of quality nominees for the state and federal bench, mobilize the progressive community around the nominations and provide other support for their participation in the nomination and confirmation process. We applaud their hard work. We also are grateful to our partners in this work who have stood with us and persisted in sharing the message that courts matter and calling out attacks on the rule of law and efforts to further degrade our judicial system. We are stronger together.

As ACS looks ahead to the next four years and beyond, we are ready to continue this work and welcome others to join us as we advocate for laws and legal systems that safeguard democracy, uphold the rule of law, and improve the lives of all people.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
The American Constitution Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan legal organization. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, advocates, and many others, our mission is to support and advocate for laws and legal systems that redress the founding failures of our Constitution, strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and realize the promise of equality for all, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and other historically excluded communities. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org.