Joe Biden Leaves a Complicated Legacy on the Federal Courts

Biden vetoed a bill to add dozens of new federal judges to the bench, apparently fearful that Donald Trump would get to appoint them.
Biden vetoed a bill to add dozens of new federal judges to the bench, apparently fearful that Donald Trump would get to appoint them.
Susan Walsh/AP
Share
Biden vetoed a bill to add dozens of new federal judges to the bench, apparently fearful that Donald Trump would get to appoint them.
Biden vetoed a bill to add dozens of new federal judges to the bench, apparently fearful that Donald Trump would get to appoint them.
Susan Walsh/AP
Joe Biden Leaves a Complicated Legacy on the Federal Courts
Copy

President Joe Biden’s farewell to elected office on Jan. 20, 2025, presents an opportunity to reflect on the legacy he left on the federal courts.

As president, Biden’s primary legacy involves his historical efforts to diversify the federal bench in terms of the race, gender, sexual orientation and religion of his judicial nominees.

Biden appointed more women to the bench than any president before him, as well as the most racially and ethnically diverse group of judges in the nation’s history, including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the nation’s first Black, female Supreme Court justice. Biden also appointed an unusually large number of former public defenders to judgeships.

But Biden’s judicial legacy spans decades and reaches far beyond the makeup of the current Supreme Court.

Read the full article on The Conversation.

Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima hang in the balance
More than 9 million students had school disrupted by climate change last year. Researchers at Brown University have launched the SustainableED initiative to study what rising temperatures will mean for our education system
Protestors gather in subfreezing temperatures to ‘unwelcome’ U.S. defense secretary
Nigel Vaughn was shot by Fall River police early Sunday morning, police said. Two officers were injured but have been released from the hospital
The records offer granular insights into how the investigation in the shooting unfolded
From Federal Hill barber chair to Rhode Island mob lore, Vinny “Vinny D” DeQuattro recalls decades of cutting hair for criminals and community leaders alike