An increasing number of federal judges announced their departures in the weeks after that President Biden
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There are currently 57 vacancies in the federal district and courts of appeal and another 20 vacancies that will become vacant in the coming months. At least 25 of these vacancies were announced after Biden’s inauguration on January 20th.
The departures group includes Emmet Sullivan, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by former President Clinton in 1994. Sullivan presided over several high-profile cases during the Trump period, including the prosecution of Michael Flynn on charges that the former White House national security adviser lied to the FBI about his conversations with a Russian diplomat during Trump’s transition period.
Another Clinton-appointed judge, Robert Katzmann of the influential Circuit 2 Court of Appeal, announced on January 21 that he would leave his post. Katzmann has also been involved in a number of Trump-related cases. Last year, he was part of a group of three judges who joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in a lawsuit filed by Trump to block the prosecutor’s subpoena for his tax returns.
Both Katzmann and Sullivan will receive senior status, allowing them to remain as judges with an easier task as they leave seats for Biden to complete the Senate confirmation process.
“I think he already has an incredible opportunity to improve the cause of justice, that he has a great opportunity to make his mark, bringing outstanding lawyers to the bench, who are both demographically and professionally, and has demonstrated its commitment to equal justice in this country, ”said Daniel Goldberg, legal director of the progressive Alliance for Justice.
But despite the wave of new vacancies, Biden will face an upward struggle to match Trump’s success in court, in part because he inherits significantly fewer vacancies than his predecessor and has to navigate the delicate balance of a 50-50 Senate.
It is not uncommon for federal judges to schedule outings with changing administrations to ensure that their replacements are elected by a president who will elect someone ideologically similar. But Russell Wheeler, a Brookings Institution scholar who studies the judiciary, said he believes the number of vacancies that have opened in the last months of the Trump administration and the first days of Biden is relatively low.
“I was surprised by the number of judges, including Republicans, who did not get senior status compared to previous years,” Wheeler said. “In the twilight of the Obama administration and the twilight of the Bush administration, you usually see people start rushing to the exit once it’s clear enough what the presidential outcome will be, or in the case of Republicans, you’re trying to get senior status in the hope that the Republican president he can name his successor ”.
According to Wheeler, Trump was one of the most prolific presidents of the modern era when it comes to judicial confirmations, filling federal banks with young and conservative judges in a quick clip.
In four years, Trump has successfully appointed 226 federal bank judges, including three Supreme Court judges, 54 appellate court judges and 174 district court judges, according to the Pew Research Center.
Wheeler found that Trump lags behind only former President Carter in terms of the total number of judicial appointments in the first four years of any recent president. President Reagan, who has appointed four Supreme Court justices in eight years, is the only recent president to have left a bigger mark on the high court.
Wheeler believes it will be harder for Biden to match Trump’s success in shaping the judiciary. First, he argues, Biden inherits fewer high-profile vacancies.
When Trump took office in January 2017, there were 17 vacancies on the nation’s strong courts of appeal, which are just below the Supreme Court. There are now seven current and future vacancies that Biden will have the opportunity to fill, not including the DC Circuit seat that will open if Merrick Garland
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Wheeler also noted that Trump and Senate Republicans have made judicial confirmations one of their highest priorities, which Biden and his colleagues in the upper house may not be able to repeat given the ambitious legislative agenda. the new administration.
“I wouldn’t expect to see the courts revolutionized after four years, and of course, if Republicans take over the Senate in 2022, it will only get worse,” Wheeler said.
But progressives pushing the new administration to focus on the judiciary say the fate of Biden’s political plans will largely depend on judges hearing the legal challenges that will surely follow.
“The advancement of so many political issues will not matter if there are no judges on the federal bench who give the right effect to critical legislation,” Goldberg said. “And any legislation that has been passed, whether the civil rights legislation, the legislation that protects workers, we need federal judges to ensure that those laws are applied and enforced properly, as Congress intends.”
To that end, Goldberg said, Senate Democrats appear to take the judiciary more seriously than in years past.
“It is clear that I am ready to prioritize this issue like never before,” he said.