Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The National Defense Authorization Act And The Senate Continuing To Make Progress By Confirming President Biden’s Diverse And Well Qualified Judicial Nominees

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the National Defense Authorization Act and Senate Democrats confirming President Biden’s judicial nominees, including confirming Tamika Montgomery-Reeves today to serve as Circuit Judge on the Third Circuit. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

Members are working around the clock to finish the year on a strong note. This week, the Senate will consider the bipartisan national defense authorization bill, which I hope we’ll send to the President’s desk very soon. The NDAA has consistently been a bipartisan effort, and that’s my expectation this year too.

On the nominations front, we are going to keep working as long as we can to confirm as many of the exceptional Biden nominees as possible. Since the start of the Biden Administration, we have confirmed a total of 95 judicial nominees to the bench, including one Supreme Court Justice, 68 district judges and 26 circuit court judges. 

Let me say that again: over the past two years, we have confirmed 95 new judges to the bench, including 26 circuit court judges, surpassing the first two years of the past two administrations. 

Today, we will confirm judge number ninety-six when we vote on Tamika Montgomery-Reeves to serve as Circuit Judge on the Third Circuit. An alumnus of the University of Mississippi and Georgia Law School, Judge Montgomery Reeves served as a clerk in Delaware before embarking on a successful career in private practice.

In 2015, she was appointed to the Delaware Court of Chancery and then to the State Supreme Court in 2020, becoming the first Black woman to ever serve in either court.

When confirmed, Judge Montgomery-Reeves will join the proud company of so many other Biden appointments who are, little by little, reshaping our courts for the better.

Of the 95 judges we’ve confirmed to date: 71 are women –75%; 65 are people of color – almost 70%; 45 are women of color – nearly 50%; and 23 are Black women – nearly 25%.

We’ve never seen a class of new judges that bring so much diversity, variety, and dynamism in a single two-year stretch. And of course it’s not just the diversity of demography that matters: in the last two years the Senate has confirmed more civil rights lawyers, public defenders, election attorneys, immigration lawyers than we typically see in this chamber. It’s a big reason today why our courts are more balanced and more dynamic and more experienced than they were two years ago.

You can be sure that judges will remain a top priority in the Congress to come. More judges means a more balanced judiciary, and a more balanced judiciary will mean greater trust in our courts in the long run, so important for our country at this moment in time, because the MAGA Supreme Court and so many of these other MAGA judges have caused people to lose faith in the courts.

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