Joe Biden leaves a sophisticated legacy on the federal courts

President Joe Biden’s farewell to elected workplace on Jan. 20, 2025, presents a possibility to replicate on the legacy he left on the federal courts.

Many will understand Biden’s affect on the courts based totally on his appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the nation’s first Black, feminine Supreme Court docket justice.

However Biden’s judicial legacy spans a long time and reaches far past the make-up of the present Supreme Court docket.

As a main scholar of the federal courts, I imagine Biden’s judicial influence is most notable in three regards: his function within the 1991 affirmation of Clarence Thomas, his historic efforts throughout his presidency to diversify the federal bench, and his 2024 resolution to veto laws increasing the variety of federal district court docket judgeships.

Chairman Biden’s influence

When he was a senator, Biden served because the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1987 to 1995. Throughout that point, Biden oversaw the Senate’s consideration of a whole lot of federal court docket appointments, together with six Supreme Court docket nominees.

His function within the 1991 affirmation listening to of Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas stands out for the way he dealt with allegations of sexual harassment introduced in opposition to the nominee.

Thomas was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to interchange Thurgood Marshall, a liberal icon and the nation’s first Black Supreme Court docket justice.

Changing the liberal Marshall with the conservative Thomas had the potential to shift the ideological make-up of the court docket. Because of this, Thomas’ affirmation listening to was positive to be contentious.

However issues acquired particularly heated when Anita Hill, a former colleague of Thomas, alleged that Thomas had sexually harassed her once they each labored on the Division of Training and on the Equal Employment Alternative Fee.

As chairman of the committee, it was in the end as much as Biden tips on how to deal with the investigation of those allegations.

Maybe Biden’s most controversial resolution concerned his refusal to permit senators to listen to from witnesses who had been prepared to testify underneath oath to corroborate Hill’s allegations. In a 2017 interview, Biden stated that the witnesses backed out on the final minute. However this clarification is contested by a minimum of one witness, who stated she was by no means known as to testify.

Although we’ll by no means ensure, this testimony might have sunk Thomas’ affirmation. As a substitute, he was confirmed by a 52-48 Senate vote.

A lot later, Biden acknowledged that his dealing with of Hill’s allegations was going to be a problem in his 2020 presidential marketing campaign. Because of this, Biden reached out to Hill earlier than asserting his candidacy. In that telephone name, he expressed his remorse for what she skilled on the listening to, however he didn’t go as far as to apologize.

Biden’s federal court docket appointments

As president, Biden’s major legacy entails his historic efforts to diversify the federal bench when it comes to the race, gender, sexual orientation and faith of his judicial nominees.

Biden appointed extra girls to the bench than any president earlier than him, in addition to probably the most racially and ethnically numerous group of judges within the nation’s historical past. Biden additionally appointed an unusually massive variety of former public defenders to judgeships.

Jackson, as a Black lady and former public defender, is probably the most high- profile instance of this. However Biden additionally nominated greater than 1 / 4 of all sitting federal judges in his 4 years a president.

Biden’s efforts to diversify the federal bench are vital and are prone to be tangible.

Having numerous judges on the courts will increase assist for courts amongst girls and folks of coloration. That is important, since courts depend on the general public for his or her legitimacy, and America has change into more and more numerous over time.

Feminine judges and judges of coloration are usually extra progressive of their decision-making than different judges, extra usually supporting litigants claiming violations of their civil rights. That is very true for areas during which such judges could have distinctive views and experiences, akin to gender and racial discrimination.

Equally, analysis exhibits that judges who had been as soon as public defenders are much less prone to incarcerate convicted criminals and have a tendency at hand down shorter sentences amongst these sentenced to jail.

The way forward for federal courts

Certainly one of Biden’s lesser recognized, however very substantial, last acts in workplace entails vetoing the JUDGES Act of 2024.

This laws would have added 66 judges to the federal courts. A few of these courts are presently understaffed, leading to heavy workloads for judges, creating delays within the administration of justice.

Although the invoice had unanimous assist within the Democratically managed Senate in August 2024, the Republican-led Home refused to vote on the invoice till after the 2024 election.

This was a strategic transfer that may be certain that the winner of the election – Donald Trump – would appoint the preliminary batch of 25 judges underneath the laws.

Biden stated that he vetoed the laws as a result of there have been some lingering questions that must be answered, akin to how the brand new judgeships could be allotted to courts throughout the nation.

However as a scholar of the federal courts, it’s evident to me that Biden’s actual motivation was to stop Trump from appointing the primary 25 judges.

Taken as an entire, Biden leaves a sophisticated legacy on the federal courts. On the one hand, he undertook unprecedented efforts to make sure that the federal courts seem like the folks they signify. He additionally resisted efforts that may have moved the courts in a conservative path underneath Trump’s second time period.

Alternatively, Biden performed a serious function within the affirmation of Thomas, one of the crucial conservative justices in American historical past.