ACS Statement in Response to President Biden Falling Behind Previous Administration on Judicial Confirmations

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

Washington, DC – After exceeding his predecessor’s pace on judicial confirmations for much of his tenure thus far, President Biden is now behind on the number of confirmed Article III judges. President Biden has had 140 judges confirmed to date. While, former President Trump had 144 judges confirmed by the end of July of his third year. In response, the American Constitution Society released the following statement:

“After maintaining an impressive pace of both nominations and confirmations, it is disappointing to see the White House and Senate now lagging behind the previous administration in filling federal court vacancies,” said ACS President Russ Feingold. “Courts are on the frontlines of nearly every policy issue about which the White House and Senate majority care. Moreover, confirming life-tenure judges is arguably the most lasting impact that the White House and Senators can have, especially with a divided Congress. We applaud the White House’s recent tranche of nominees and urge the Senate to plan now for a robust confirmation schedule as soon as it is back in session in September.”

“The Senate had an opportunity to scrap its August recess and devote that precious time to confirming judges. Instead, they will return in September with a real challenge before them,” said ACS Vice President for Strategic Engagement Zack Gima. “To exceed the previous administration’s 187 confirmed judges in its first three years, the White House will need to announce at least 16 more nominees, and the Senate will need to confirm all pending nominees plus those additional 16 before the end of the year. This is doable, but only if the Senate demonstrates a much more aggressive commitment to judges than it has in recent months.”

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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 strengthen our democratic legitimacy, uphold the rule of law, and redress the founding failures of our Constitution and enduring inequities in our laws in pursuit of realized equality. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter @acslaw.