Schumer Statement And Fact Sheet On Senate Democrats Confirming President Biden’s Historic Slate Of Judicial And Executive Nominees

Washington, D.C. - President Biden nominated a historic slate of professionally and personally diverse well-qualified individuals to the federal bench. Senate Democrats have gone to work to confirm them to the judiciary. Thanks to Senate Democrats, President Biden has had more total circuit and district court nominees confirmed in his first year in office than any president in the last forty years – and as many as in the first year under any president since John F. Kennedy. The Senate also invoked cloture on two additional nominees to be circuit court judges, who will receive confirmation votes in the coming weeks.

 “This morning Senate Democrats confirmed the 40^th judge nominated by President Biden to serve lifetime appointments on the federal bench, the most in a president’s first year in the last forty years,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “These judges will bring sorely-needed diversity to the judiciary: not just demographic diversity, but also professional diversity, adding to the breadth and width and depth of knowledge possessed by the courts. Because of the commitment to restoring the federal judiciary by President Biden and Senate Democrats, it is no longer a bench, that is simply prosecutors, partners in large law firms—but rather many, many others, from walks of life with different and needed perspectives on the federal bench such as public defenders, civil rights lawyers, election experts and more.”

Sources: CRS; Congress.gov; fjc.gov;

President Biden and Senate Democrats are Breaking Barriers with Historic Judicial Confirmations 

ü  The first LGBTQ woman to serve on any federal circuit court

ü  The first Muslim American federal judge in history

ü  The first Korean-American woman to serve as a federal appellate judge

Historic Circuit Court Confirmations 

Candace Jackson-Akiwumi is the second African American to serve on the Seventh Circuit. [Chicago Sun-Times, 6/24/21]

Tiffany P. Cunningham is the first African American Judge to serve on the Federal Circuit. [Reuters, 7/19/21]

Eunice C. Lee is the second African American woman to serve on the Second Circuit. [White House, 5/12/21]

Gustavo A. Gelpí, Jr. is the second judge of Hispanic origin to serve on the First Circuit and the second judge from Puerto Rico to serve on the First Circuit. [White House, 5/12/21]

Myrna Pérez is the only Latina serving on the Second Circuit. [White House, 6/15/21]

Beth Robinson is the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court. [White House, 8/5/21]

Lucy Koh is the first Korean-American woman to serve on U.S. federal appeals court. [Bloomberg Law, 11/13/21]

Historic District Court Confirmations

Regina Rodriguez is the first Asian American to serve as a federal judge for the District of Colorado. [Colorado Politics, 6/8/21]

Zahid Quraishi is the first Muslim American federal judge in US history. [White House, 3/30/21]

Lydia Griggsby is the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge for the District of Maryland. [White House, 3/30/21]

Angel Kelley is the second African American woman and the second Asian American to serve as a federal judge for the District of Massachusetts. [White House, 5/12/21]

Florence Y. Pan the first Asian American woman to serve as a federal judge for the District of Columbia. [White House, 3/30/21]

Lauren J. King is the first Native American to serve as a federal judge in Washington State. [White House, 5/12/21]

Tana Lin is the first Asian American to serve as a federal judge in Washington State. [AP, 10/22/21]

Jia M. Cobb is the second African American woman actively serving as a federal judge for the District of Columbia. [White House, 6/15/21]

Karen M. Williams is the first African American to serve as a federal judge in the Camden courthouse of the District of New Jersey. [White House, 5/12/21]

Patricia Tolliver Giles the second woman of color to serve as a federal judge in Virginia. [White House, 6/30/21]

Sarala Vidya Nagala is the first person of South Asian descent to serve as a federal judge for the District of Connecticut. [White House, 6/15/21]

Senate Democrats Have Made Progress A Reality By Confirming President Biden’s Historic Cabinet and Executive Branch Nominees

President Biden and the Senate Democrats are making history, confirming an incredibly diverse slate of nominees in just the first year. Fifty percent of Senate-confirmed appointees in the first 300 days of the Biden administration have been women, trumping all three previous administrations. The President’s Cabinet is also historically diverse, with the highest percentage of women and Latino Secretaries confirmed in recent history.

DNI Avril Haines is the first female Director of National Intelligence. [Wall Street Journal, 1/20/21]

Secretary Lloyd Austin is the first African American Secretary of Defense. [NPR, 1/22/21]

Secretary Janet Yellen is the first female Treasury Secretary in U.S. history. [NPR, 1/25/21]

Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the first openly gay Cabinet member confirmed by Senate. [ABC News, 2/2/21]

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is the first Latino head of Homeland Security. [NPR, 2/2/21]

Kathleen Hicks is the first woman to serve as Deputy Secretary of Defense. [Defense News, 2/9/21]

Chair Cecilia Rouse is the first Black chair of White House Economic Council. [New York Times, 3/2/21]

Administrator Michael Regan is the first Black man to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. [USA Today, 3/10/21]

Secretary Deb Haaland is the first Native American Cabinet Secretary in U.S. history. [NPR, 3/15/21]

Representative Katherine Tai is the first woman of color and the first Asian American US Trade Representative, [Huffington Post, 3/18/21]

Secretary Xavier Becerra is the first Latino Secretary of Health and Human Services. [USA Today, 3/18/21]

Dr. Rachel Levine is the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by Senate. [NPR, 3/24/21]

Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyamo is the first Black man to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. [The Hill, 3/25/21]

Associate AG Vanita Gupta is the first Indian-American confirmed as Associate Attorney General. [The Wire, 4/21/21]

Brenda Mallory is the first African American to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. [Roll Call, 4/22/21]

Secretary Christine Wormuth is the first woman Secretary of the Army. [USA Today, 5/27/21]

Director Robert Santos is the first Latino to lead the US Census Bureau. [New York Times, 11/4/21]

Charles F. Sams, Director of the National Park Service, is the first Native American to hold that role. [NBC News, 11/19/21]

Jessica Rosenworcel is the first Female head of the Federal Communications Commission. [Axios, 12/7/21]

Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, is the first Muslim to hold the position. [Dallas Morning News, 10/21/21]

Additionally, Biden nominees are making history in states across the US, as the Senate confirmed the first Black US Attorney for Massachusetts, Rachel Rollins, as well as Indiana’s first two Black US Attorneys.  And we are just getting started.

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