Watch Us Undo Trump's Damage To The Federal Judiciary

Since the presidency of Jimmy Carter, molding the judiciary has been a defining part of White House business. Donald Trump, in four years, appointed 234 federal judges to the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, Appeals Courts, etc. Overwhelmingly young, white men with radical right-wing ideals, the damage they did to a total judiciary of 870 is difficult to describe.

Now, we have President Biden in the White House and two years of Democratic Senate control. With over 100 judicial vacancies, we have a chance to undo the damage Trump did to the federal judiciary and establish diversity in the courts at the same time. To do so, we need to appoint 159 women, 23 women of color, six Asian men, 13 Asian women, 31 Hispanic men, and 52 Hispanic women to the judiciary (note: the 88 non-white women are included in the total disparity of 159 women). We can also appoint more voting rights activists, civil rights lawyers, and public defenders.

Here are the judges confirmed so far, with judges in yellow having been advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and below that is a countdown to 261 appointed judges:

1. Ketanji Brown Jackson-- Working from 1998 to 2013 as private sector lawyer, a member of the Federal Sentencing Commission, and as a public defender, she served on the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. before being confirmed as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June 2021. She is already being named as a likely nominee as the first black female Supreme Court justice should the opportunity arise.

2. Julien Xavier Neals-- A city counsel for Newark, New Jersey, and a county counsel for Bergen County, New Jersey, in June 2021 Neals was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court of New Jersey. His previous nomination, under President Obama, was blocked by Mitch McConnell.

3. Regina M. Rodriguez-- The Hispanic-Japanese daughter of an assistant NFL coach, Rodriguez worked for the District Attorney's Office and Department of Justice in Colorado before being nominated to serve in the U.S. District Court of Colorado by Barack Obama, blocked by Mitch McConnell, and renominated and confirmed by President Biden in June 2021.

4. Zahid Nisar Quraishi-- A captain in the U.S. Army, a district attorney, a magistrate judge, and a counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, Quaraishi was confirmed in June 2021 as the first Muslim-American federal judge and the first Asian-American judge on the District Court of New Jersey.

5. Lydia Kay Griggsby-- A Georgetown graduate with a 25-year career in civil, ethics, and privacy law, Griggsby has served on the United States Court of Federal Claims since December 2014. She was confirmed to serve on the United States District Court for her native Maryland in June 2021, the first woman of color to serve as a judge on this court. While black, she is also Native American, making her only the fifth Native American and third Native American woman to ever serve on the federal bench.

6. Deborah Boardman-- A Palestinian-descended legal clerk who worked her way to pro bono attorney for a private firm in Maryland, Boardman made her greatest mark as a public defender before serving as a magistrate judge for Maryland from 2019 to 2021 and being confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for Maryland in June 2021.

7. Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi-- An honors graduate of Princeton and Yale and the daughter of two prominent Virginia judges, Jackson-Akiwumi worked as a clerk for numerous federal judges between 2006 and 2010 before working for over a decade as a public defender in Illinois and being confirmed to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in June 2021.

8. Tiffany P. Cunningham-- A patent attorney from Illinois, Cunningham was confirmed on July 19th, 2021, becoming the first African American to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

9. Eunice Lee-- A graduate of Yale born at a military base in Germany, Lee worked as a professor of clinical law as well as a public defender in New York. Lee was confirmed on August 7th, 2021, to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the first public defender to serve on that bench. She was the closest confirmation vote, 50 to 49 (with Senator Lindsey Graham currently sick with COVID), as she has a long history of berating rapist and Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas.

10. David Estudillo-- A lifelong resident of the state of Washington, Estudillo began his career with focus on civil litigation before shifting to immigration law. On September 14th, 2021, Estudillo was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

11. Angel Kelley-- A J.D. from Georgetown set Angel Kelley on the path to working as a juvenile rights attorney for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn and then as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Rising through the ranks, she served as an associate justice of the Brockton District Court and an associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court while teaching at Columbia University, Harvard University, New York University, Suffolk University, Boston University, and Emory University. On September 14th, 2021, Kelley became the second African American woman and the second Asian American to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

12. Veronica S. Rossman-- A Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Rossman fled with her family as a child to avoid religious persecution. After graduating Columbia University and getting her JD from UC-Hastings, she clerked for the Chief Justice of the Nevada Supreme Court before entering her life as a public defender. Confirmed on September 20th, 2021, she is the only public defender sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

13. Margaret Strickland-- One of the youngest federal judges on this list, Margaret Strickland worked as a civil attorney and public defender in New Mexico, climbing the ladder to become the president of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. On September 21st, 2021, she was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

14. Florence Y. Pan-- A JD graduate from Stanford Law School, Pan has spent her entire career working for the federal government as an attorney for the Southern District Appeals Court, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Office of the Solicitor General, the USDOJ Criminal Division, the Department of Treasury, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Since 2009, she has worked as an Associate Judge on the Appeals Court for Washington, D.C. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated her to serve on the District Court for the District of Columbia; her nomination was among those Mitch McConnell killed. On September 23rd, 2021, the Senate confirmed her to serve on this court after President Biden nominated her; she is the first Asian-American woman to do so.

15. Lauren J. King-- After getting her JD from the University of Virginia Law School in 2008, King worked for numerous private law firms in addition to serving on the Washington State Gambling Commission, presiding as an appellate judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System, and teaching Federal Indian Law at Seattle University School of Law. Upon her confirmation on October 5th, 2021, she became the first Native American federal judge in Washington state and only the sixth in American history and also gave President Biden the distinction of having appointed the most Native American federal judges of any president.

16. Sarah A. L. Merriam-- Merriam has one of the most impressive resumes of any of President Biden's judicial nominees, having graduated from Georgetown, Yale, and Duke. She clerked under Judge Thomas Meskill, worked as an assistant public defender, served as a political director for the state employee union in Connecticut, and managed the Senate campaigns of Chris Murphy and Chris Dodd. On October 6th, 2021, she was confirmed as the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

17. Gustavo Gelpí-- Born in Puerto Rico, Gelpí got his BA from Brandeis University in 1987 and his JD from Suffolk University in 1991. After this, he worked as a law clerk, public defender, assistant attorney general, and then Solicitor General of Puerto Rico. From 2001 to 2006, he served as a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. He was moved up to a district judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in 2006, and he has served as chief justice of that court since 2018. In 2013, he became president of the American Bar Association. Nominated on May 12th, 2021, and confirmed on October 18th, 2021, Gelpí will be the second Puerto Rican to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

18. Christine O'Hearn-- Earning her BA from the University of Delaware in 1990 and her JD from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1993, O'Hearn was a partner at Brown and Connery for 28 years in addition to working as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She was confirmed to serve on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on October 19th, 2021.

19. Myrna Pérez-- Born in San Antonio, Texas, Pérez received a BA from Yale in 1996, an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School in 1998, and a JD from Columbia Law School in 2003. Aside from lecturing at Columbia University and New York University School of Law, she has worked as a voting rights activist at the Brennan Center for Justice. On October 25th, 2021, she was confirmed to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

20. Tara Lin-- Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Lin moved the United States as a child and lived in Kansas and Chicago as a child. She received a BA with distinction, from Cornell University in 1988 and her JD from NYU School of Law in 1991. Lin has worked as a public defender, an attorney with the USDOJ Employment Litigation Section, a senior trial attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a litigation coordinator at the Michigan Poverty Law Program, a director of the ACLU, and the board president of the group from 2019 to 2021. Lin will be the first Asian American Article III judge and first Asian American female judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington after she was confirmed on October 21st, 2021.

21. Jia M. Cobb-- A Springfield, Ohio, native, Cobb was born in 1980 and got her BA from Northwestern University in 2002 and her JD from Harvard Law School in 2005. After her clerkship for Judge Diane Wood, she worked as a trial attorney for the D.C. Public Defender Service while also teaching law at Washington College of Law and Harvard Law School. She was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 26th, 2021.

22. Karen M. Williams-- Williams, born in 1963, grew up in New York and got her high school diploma from Baldwin Senior High School in 1981, her BS from Pennsylvania State University in 1985, and her JD from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1992. After her confirmation on October 26th, 2021, she became the first black and first black female judge to sit in the Camden courthouse of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

23. Patricia Tolliver Giles-- Born in 1973, Giles received her BA from the University of Virginia in 1995 and her JD from the University of Virginia Law School in 1998. Clerking for Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, she went on to serve for nearly two decades as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Major Crimes Unit, working especially on stopping the MS-13 gang. She was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on October 26th, 2021.

24. Michael S. Nachmanoff-- Born in 1968, Michael Nachmanoff got his BA from Wesleyan University in 1991 and his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995 before working as a federal public defender from 2002 to 2015, arguing successfully in a 2007 Supreme Court case that judges can give lower sentences for drugs than those prescribed in federal guidelines. Appointed a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2015, he was confirmed to be a judge for the same court on October 27th, 2021.

25. Sarala Vidya Nagala-- Born in 1983, Nagala earned her BA from Stanford University in 2005 and her JD from UC Berkeley School of Law in 2008. After a diverse 13 years of federal legal experience, prosecuting hate crimes and major crimes as well as serving as an assistant U.S. attorney, Nagala was confirmed on October 27th, 2021, as the first South Asian woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

26. Omar A. Williams-- Born in 1977, Williams earned a BA from the University of Connecticut in 1998 and JD from the UConn School of Law in 2002 before working as an assistant public defender. Serving as a judge on the Connecticut Superior Court for the District of New London from 2016, he was confirmed on October 28th, 2021, to serve as a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

27. Toby J. Heytens-- Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Heytens received his BA from Macalaster College in 1997 and his JD from the University of Virginia Law School in 2000. He clerked for Chief Justice of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Edward Becker and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before becoming a law professor at his alma mater as well as Cornell University. He then served as Solicitor General of Virginia. His nomination to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals was confirmed on November 1st, 2021.

28. Beth Robinson-- Born in Pakistan and raised in Indiana, Robinson graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1986 before graduating from the University of Chicago School of Law (where she was associate editor of University of Chicago Law Review and an inductee to the Order of the Coif) in 1989. After clerking for Judge David B. Sentelle, Robinson worked as an LGBT rights lawyer. Her legal advocacy led to Vermont becoming the first state to legalize same-sex civil unions in 1999 as well as its legalization of same-sex marriage in 2009. She also worked as a lecturer at Dartmouth college, a justice of the peace for the town of Ferrisburgh, a delegate to the Democratic National Committee, and a member of the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners. After serving as legal counsel to Governor Peter Shumlin in 2011, she became Vermont's first openly-LGBTQ Supreme Court justice. On November 1st, 2021, she was confirmed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, becoming the first open lesbian to be an appellate judge in the U.S. as well as flipping the Second Circuit to lean toward Democratic appointees.

29. Lucy Koh-- The daughter of Korean refugees who fought in the Korean War, Koh was born in Wasyington, D.C. She grew up in Maryland, Mississippi, and Oklahoma and attended Harvard, receiving a Harry S. Truman Scholarship and graduating magna cun laude in 1990 before earning her J.D. there in 1993. Koh spent a decade working for the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Office of Legislative Affairs, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, and the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California before entering private practice. She served as a judge on the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2008 to 2010 before being appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2010. In this capacity, she ruled in high-profile cases related to COVID restrictions, Big Tech monopolies, and the 2020 U.S. census. President Obama nominated her to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2016, but Senate Republicans blocked her nomination; President Biden renominated her and she was confirmed on December 13th, 2021, becoming the first Korean-American woman to serve as an appellate judge and the second AAPI woman to serve on the Ninth Circuit.

30. Jennifer Sung-- Jennifer Sung was born in Edison, New Jersey, in 1972, received her BA from Oberlin College in 1994, and got her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2004. She has spent most of her career representing labor unions and organizers in various capacities and was a Skadden Fellow at New York University's School of Law. She was confirmed to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 15th, 2021.

31. Samantha D. Elliott-- Born in Orange, New Jersey, Samantha Elliott earned a BA cum laude from Colgate University in 1997 and a JD from Columbia Law School in 2006. Since then, she has worked as both a private attorney and as a pro bono attorney for legal aid groups in New Hampshire. On December 15th, 2021, she was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for New Hampshire, thereby giving Democrats their fifth court flip.

32. Armando Omar Bonilla-- The son of a Cuban immigrant mother and Cuban-American father, Bonilla received his BA from West Virginia University in 1989 and JD magna cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1992. After clerking under Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. from 1992 to 1994, Bonilla spent 24 years working in a plethora of positions at the Department of Justice. From 2018 to 2021, he was vice president of ethics and investigations at Capital One. On December 18th, 2021, he was confirmed to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, becoming Biden's first Article I judge to be confirmed.

33. Carolyn N. Lerner-- A Detroit native born in 1965, Carolyn N. Lerner received her BGS from the Honors College at the University of Michigan in 1986 and her JD from the New York University Law School in 1989, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar. After working in private practice from 1991 to 2011, Lerner served in various positions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 2011 to 2021; she has also been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University Law School. She was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on December 18th, 2021.

34. Jane M. Beckering-- Born in Grand Rapids in 1965, Beckering received her BA from the University of Michigan in 1987 and her JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1990. After spending seven years in private practice and running unsuccessfully for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court, she was appointed to serve on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 2007 to 2021, also serving as vice president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association. On December 17th, 2021, she was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, making her the only Democrat on that court.

35. Shalina D. Kumar-- A lifelong Michigander, Kumar received her BA from the University of Michigan in 1993 and her JD from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1996. After spending a decade in private practice, she was appointed a judge of the Oakland County Sixth Circuit Court by then-Michigan Governor (and current Secretary of Energy) Jennifer Granholm in 2007, becoming the court's chief judge in January 2018. She was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern Michigan on December 17th, 2021, becoming the first South Asian judge in the state's federal bench.

36. Mary K. Dimke-- Born in Clarkson, Washington, in 1977, Dimke received her BA magna cum laude from Pepperdine University in 1999 and her JD as a member of the Order of the Coif from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2002. She was a law clerk from 2002 to 2004, an attorney in the USDOJ's Fraud Section of the Criminal Division from 2004 to 2007, an Assistant Attorney for the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington from 2008 to 2016, and a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Washington from 2016 to 2021. On December 18th, 2021, she was confirmed to serve as the only woman on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, giving it a four-to-zero Democratic majority.

37. Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong-- Frimpong, born in 1976 in Los Angeles, is the daughter of immigrants from Ghana. She graduated as valedictorian of the Vivian Webb School for Girls in 1993 before earning her BA from Harvard in 1997 and her JD from Yale in 2001. From then, she worked as a public high school teacher in Ghana for a summer before serving as a law clerk from 2001 to 2002, an associate at Morrison & Foerster from 2002 to 2007, a USDOJ attorney from 2007 to 2015, and a judge of the LA County Superior Court from 2016 and 2021. On December 18th, 2021, she was confirmed as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Central California.

38. Jennifer L. Thurston-- Born in 1967, Jennifer Thurston earned her BS from California State University in 1989, her JD from the California Pacific School of Law in 1997, and a Master of Laws from Duke University in 2018. After working as deputy county counsel in Bakersfield from 1997 to 2009, she was a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of California from 2009 to 2021, serving as the Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 2020 to 2021. On December 17th, 2021, she was confirmed as a district judge for her district.

39. David Herrera Urias-- Also born in 1967, Urias received his BA from the University of New Mexico in 1997 and his JD from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2001 before working for two decades as a civil rights attorney and private defense attorney with a specific focus on Hispanic Americans. On December 17th, 2021, his nomination to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico was confirmed, giving liberal judges a majority on the court.

40. Jinsook Ohta-- Ohta, born in 1976 in Seoul, South Korea, graduated magna cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Yale in 1998 before getting her JD from New York University School of Law in 2001. She worked as a law clerk and attorney for various judges and at various firms over the course of the next decade, was an assistant law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and worked in the consumer protection section under then-State Attorney General Kamala Harris. From 2020 to 2021, she was a judge on the San Diego County Superior Court. On December 17th, 2021, she was confirmed to be the first AAPI female judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Southern California.

41. Linda Lopez-- Linda Lopez, the child of Cuban immigrants, was born in 1968 in Miami, Florida, and earned her AA and AS from Miami Dade College, her BA from Florida International University in 1996, and her JD from University of Miami School of Law in 1999. She worked as a defense attorney for eight years before moving to San Diego in 2007 and working as a public defender and serving as a Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of California from 2018 to 2021. On December 17th, 2021, she was confirmed to be a District Judge for the U.S. District of Southern California, flipping the court to a Democratic majority upon her confirmation.

42. Katherine M. Menendez-- Menendez was born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1971, graduated with a BA from the University of Chicago in 1993 and a JD from NYU School of Law in 1997, and served as a law clerk in 1996 and 1997. From 1999 to 2016, Katherine M. Menendez worked in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for Minnesota before serving as a Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota from 2016 to 2021. On December 18th, 2021, she was confirmed as a district judge for the same court, giving Democratic-appointed judges a majority in the District of Minnesota.

43. Gabriel P. Sanchez-- A Los Angeles native, Sanchez graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in 1994, received his BA cum laude from Yale in 1998, earned a Master of Philosophy in European Studies from Cambridge in 2000, and got his JD from Yale in 2005, even participating in the Fulbright Program in Buenos Aires in 1999. A law clerk for an appeals judge named Richard Paez and a member of the Jerry Brown administration, he was the lead author of legislation that allowed certain non-violent defendants to be considered for parole and established sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior, and college education. In November 2018, he became the first Latino to serve on the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District. On January 12th, 2022, he became the first federal judge of the year to be confirmed, in his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

44. Holly A. Thomas-- Born in San Diego but earning her BA from Stanford in 2000 and JD from Yale in 2004, she clerked under Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw before working as an assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 2005 to 2010. After this, she worked as an appellate attorney in the USDOJ's Civil Rights Division and as a special counsel to the solicitor general of New York, where she challenged the "bathroom bills" introduced in Texas and North Carolina. She then served as deputy director of Executive Programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court before being nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by President Biden on September 8th, 2021, and confirmed on January 20th, 2022.

45. Bridget Meehan Brennan-- Like President Biden, Bridget M. Brennan is a native Pennsylvanian and grew up Catholic. However, she pursued her career in Ohio, getting her BA from John Carroll University in 1997 and her JD from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2000. After working in private practice, she spent nearly 15 years in various roles for the DOJ, including as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2021 to 2022. She was nominated on September 30th, 2021, and confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on February 1st, 2022.

46. Charles Esque Fleming-- A Cleveland native, Fleming received his BA from Kent State University and his JD from Case Western Reserve University Law School in 1986 and 1990, respectively. After a brief stint in private practice, he spent three decades as a public defender. Nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on September 30th, 2021, and confirmed on February 1st, 2022, he is the second active black judge on the court.

47. David Augustin Ruiz-- Born in Toledo in 1973, Ruiz received his BA from Ohio State University in 1997 and his JD from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2000. After a decade in private practice, he served as the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2010 to 2016, worked as a pro bono attorney for the Cleveland Legal Aid Society, and, from 2016 to 2022, served as a magistrate judge in Northern Ohio. Nominated on September 30th, 2021, to serve as a district judge on the same court, he was confirmed on February 1st, 2022, becoming the first Hispanic to serve as a district court judge in the state.

48. Leonard P. Stark-- Born in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan, Stark earned Bachelor's in Arts, Bachelor's in Science, and Master's in Arts, all from the University of Delaware and all in 1991. He was a Rhodes Scholar who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1993 before earning his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1996. After a year clerking under Judge Walter King of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, he worked in private practice and as an assistant U.S. attorney in Wilmington. In 2007, he was selected to be a magistrate judge in Delaware until his 2010 appointment by Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on November 3rd, 2021, he was confirmed by the Senate on February 9th, 2022.

49. Jacqueline Corley-- A Californian at birth, Jacqueline Scott Corley graduated UC-Berkeley at age 22 in 1988 and got her JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as editor of the Harvard Law Review, in 1991. While clerking for Judges Robert Keeton and Charles Breyer, she worked as a white-collar criminal defense attorney and worked on the Northern District of California mediation and early neutral evaluation panels from 2006 to 2011. She served as a magistrate judge of the same district from 2011 to 2022 when, on March 17th, having been nominated by President Biden on November 3rd, 2021, she was confirmed to serve as a district judge on the Northern District of California.

50. Fred W. Slaughter-- The son of pioneering black sports agent Fred Leon Slaughter, Fred W. Slaughter was born in Santa Monica in 1973 and got his BA and JD from UCLA in 1996 and 1999, respectively. He served as a deputy city attorney in Los Angeles, a coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods, and an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, the District of Oregon, and the District of Arizona, between 2002 and 2014 before being appointed a judge of the Orange County Superior Court by Governor Jerry Brown. Appointed by President Biden on December 15th, 2021, the Senate confirmed him to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on March 17th, 2022.

51. Victoria Marie Calvert-- Earning her BA from Duke University in 2003 and her JD from the NYU School of Law in 2006, she spent six years in private practice before working for nearly a decade as a federal public defender program in Atlanta. Nominated to the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia on September 30th, 2021, and confirmed on March 22nd, 2022, she became only the second black woman to serve on that court.

52. Ruth Bermudez Montenegro-- Born in 1967, Montenegro earned an AA with honors from Imperial Valley College in 1987, a BA summa cum laude in 1989, and a JD from the UCLA School of Law. She worked for seven years in private practice before spending a decade as an elementary school and college assistant superintendent and human resources director. Ruth B. Montenegro served as a judge of the Imperial County Superior Court from 2012 to 2013 and 2015 to 2018 before being appointed a magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in August of that year. President Biden nominated her to serve as a district judge on that court on November 3rd, 2021, and she was confirmed on March 22nd, 2022.

53. Alison J. Nathan-- Born in 1972, Alison Nathan is likely behind only Ketanji Brown Jackson in how impressive her resumé is. The Philadelphia native earned a BA from Cornell in 1994 and a JD from the same university magna cum laude in 2000. A member of the Quill and Dagger Society, she was the chief editor of the Cornell Law Review before clerking under Ninth Circuit Appeals Judge Betty Binns Fletcher and Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens between 2000 and 2002. After four years in private practice, including a stint as the associate national counsel for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign, she focused on opposing the death penalty as a professor of law at Fordham University School of Law and a Fritz Alexander fellow at NYU School of Law. From 2009 to 2010, she was special assistant to President Barack Obama as well as an associate White House counsel before spending a year as an assistant counsel to the New York solicitor general; in 2016, she was a guest judge for the Harvard Law School Ames Moot Court Competition. From 2011 to 2022, she served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; recommended by Chuck Schumer himself, she became only the second openly-LGBT2SQIA+ federal judge ever appointed in U.S. history. In this position, she led the charge to release federal prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic and presided over the trial of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell as well as the ownership trial of the Guennol Stargazer. Nominated to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on November 18th, 2021, she was confirmed on March 23rd, 2022.

54. John H. Chun-- Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1970 to South Korean immigrants, he graduated from the Catlin Gabel School before earning his BA from Columbia University in 1991 and his JD from Cornell in 1994. After clerking under Ninth Circuit Appellate Judge Eugene A. Wright, he spent nearly 20 years as a private lawyer in addition to a decade as a member of the American Arbitration Association's Commercial and Employment panels. Appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to serve on the King County Superior Court from 2014 to 2018 and the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division One from 2018 to 2022, he was nominated by President Biden on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on September 30th, 2021. He was confirmed on March 23rd, 2022, becoming the first Asian man to serve on that court.

55. Julie Rubin-- Baltimore-born Julie Rubin received her BA cum laude from Mount Holyoke College in 1995 and her JD from the University of Maryland Law School in 1998. After spending 15 years in private practice, she spent nearly a decade as a judge of 8th Judicial Circuit of the Baltimore City Circuit Court and was a member of the legal committee of Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc., from 2010 to 2013. On November 3rd, 2021, President Biden nominated her to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland; she was confirmed on March 23rd, 2022.

56. Hector Gonzalez-- Originally from Havana, 58-year-old Hector Gonzalez earned his BA from Manhattan College in 1985 and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1988, where he was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review; in 1995, he earned an MA in criminal justice from City University of New York in 1995. He served for four years as an assistant DA in Manhattan, has 23 years of experience in private practice, and was considered for a New York Court of Appeals seat by Governor Andrew Cuomo before the governor ultimately chose Eugene Fahey. Nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York by Donald Trump on September 8th, 2020 (at the recommendation of Chuck Schumer), he was renominated to the same seat by President Biden on December 15th, 2021, and confirmed on March 23rd, 2022.

57. Cristina D. Silva-- Born in El Paso, Texas, in 1978, Silva earned her BA from Wellesley College in 2001 and her JD from the Washington College of Law in 2007, spent several years investigating and prosecuting domestic violence cases in Miami-Dade County, and then served as an assistant U.S. attorney for Nevada, where she played a crucial role investigating the horrific 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Governor Steve Sisolak appointed her to the Eighth Nevada Judicial District Court in 2019 before President Biden appointed her to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada; she was confirmed on March 23rd, 2022.

58. Anne Rachel Traum-- Born in Redwood City in 1969, Anne R. Traum received her BA cum laude from Brown University in 1991 and her JD from the University of California-Hastings School of Law in 1996; she served as a prosecutor in environmental law cases and a federal public defender in the District of Nevada while teaching at the William Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. After that, she worked as a special counsel to the Office for Access to Justice for more than a year before being confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on March 23rd, 2022; she had been nominated by President Obama in 2016, but her nomination was never taken up by Mitch McConnell's Senate Republican majority.

59. Georgette Castner-- Just 43 years old, the Philadelphia-born Castner earned her BS cum laude from the College of New Jersey in 2002 and her JD, with honors, from Rutgers Law School in 2006. She became a partner in a private firm, focusing on marijuana law, and worked on committees that determined the code of ethics for judges in the state of New Jersey. Nominated by President Biden, she was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on March 31st, 2022.

60. Sarah Elisabeth Geraghty-- Earning a BA from Northwestern University in 1996, her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1998, and her JD from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999, she spent a number of years as a public defender before spending nearly two decades as an attorney for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. On March 31st, 2022, her nomination to the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Georgia was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

61. Ketanji Brown Jackson-- On April 7th, 2022, the Senate confirmed KBJ as the first black woman, fourth person of color, third black person, first public defender, and sixth woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, bringing the total number of women on the Supreme Court to four for the first time in U.S. history.

62. Sherilyn Peace Garnett-- A graduate of UC-Riverside in 1991 and Harvard Law School in 1995 but born in the Cayman Islands, Sherilyn P. Garnett worked in private practice before spending more than a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, working on general crimes and domestic terrorism. From 2014 to 2022, she was a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court before being confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Central California in a bipartisan Senate vote on April 27th, 2022.

63. Jennifer L. Rochon-- Born in St. Clair, Michigan, in 1970, Rochon earned her BA from the University of Michigan in 1992 and her JD from the New York University School of Law in 1997. She volunteered with the Peace Corps, clerked for Maryanne Trump Barry, and worked her way up to partner of a major New York City, worked as amici on immigration reform cases, and eventually became a general counsel for the Girl Scouts. Nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 15th, 2021, she was confirmed in a 51-47 vote on May 18th, 2022.

64. Sunshine Suzanne Sykes-- A Navajo born and raised in Arizona and New Mexico, she earned her BA and JD from Stanford in 1997 and 2001, respectively. A staff attorney for California Indian Legal Services from 2001 to 2003, a contract attorney for the Defense Panel at the Southwest Justice Center from 2003 to 2005, a deputy counsel for Riverside County from 2005 to 2013, and a judge of the Riverside County Superior Court since then, she was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on December 15th, 2021, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 18th, 2022.

65. Trina Thompson-- An Oakland native, Thompson attended UC-Berkeley, earning her BA in 1983 and her JD in 1986. Between 1986 and 2003, she served as a public defender, criminal defense attorney, and juvenile court commissioner in Alameda County before being elected as the first black judge on the Alameda County Superior Court, a position she has held since while simultaneously working as a lecturer and then a professor at UC-Berkeley and a member of the Coordinating Council and Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under President Obama. President Biden appointed her to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on November 3rd, 2021, and was confirmed by a 51-44 vote on May 18th, 2022.

66. Stephanie Dawkins Davis-- A Native of Kansas City, Kansas, raised as an only child by a single mother, Stephanie D. Davis received her B.S. from Wichita State University in 1989 and her JD from the Washington University School of Law in 1992; she became interested in law as a child because of Brown v. Board of Education. Mentored by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly as she began her career in Detroit, she worked for 18 years trying civil and criminal cases for the Eastern District of Michigan and becoming a magistrate judge in January 2016. A member of the American Constitution Society and the advisory board for the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, she was appointed by President Trump to District Court of Eastern Michigan in 2019 before being appointed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and confirmed 49-43 on May 24th, 2022.

67. Charlotte N. Sweeney-- Born in Englewood, Colorado, in 1969, Sweeney graduated from California Lutheran University in 1991 and from the Sturm College of Law in 1995. She spent 27 years in private practice and helped draft Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act in 2019. The leader of the labor and employment section for the Colorado Bar Association, a board member and the interim treasurer of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and a member of the Colorado LGBT Bar Association, she was appointed to the U.S. District Court in Colorado by President Biden on August 5th, 2021. She was confirmed by a vote of 48 to 46 on on May 25th, 2022, becoming the first LGBT federal judge in Colorado and the first LGBT female judge to serve on a court west of the Mississippi.

68. Evelyn Padin-- A 62-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey, native, Evelyn Padin received her BA, MSW, and JD from Rutgers, Fordham, and Seton Hall Universities between 1983 and 1992. A private attorney for nearly 30 years, she briefly served as a municipal court judge in Jersey City in 1998, was the president of the New Jersey State Bar Association from 2019 to 2020 (the first Latina and first Puerto Rican in the role), and was a trustee for Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and the Board of Governors for the New Jersey Association for Justice. Nominated for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in November 2021, she was confirmed 51-43 on May 25th, 2022, becoming the second Latina to serve on the court.

69. Nina Morrison--

70. Robert S. Huie--

71. Ana Isabel de Alba--

72. Stephen H. Locher--

73. Nina Nin-Yuen Wang--

74. Nancy L. Maldonado--

75. J. Michelle Childs--

76. Gregory B. Williams--

77. Elizabeth Hanes--

78. Roopali Desai--

79. John Z. Lee--

80. Andre B. Mathis--

81. Jennifer H. Rearden--

82. Salvador Mendoza, Jr.--

83. Lara Montecalvo--

84. Sarah A. L. Merriam--

85. Florence Y. Pan--

86. Arianna J. Freeman--

87. María del R. Antongiorgi-Jordán--

88. Anne M. Nardacci--

89. Camille L. Vélez-Rivé--

90. Doris Pryor--

91. Frances Kay Behm--

92. Kelley B. Hodge--

93. Kai Scott--

94. Mia Perez--

95. John Frank Murphy--

96. Jerry W. Blackwell--

97. Jeffery P. Hopkins--

98. Tamika Montgomery-Reeves--

99. Dana M. Douglas--

100. M. Tia Johnson--

101. DeAndrea Benjamin--

102. Cindy K. Chung--

103. Gina R. Méndez-Miró--

104. Matthew L. García--

105. Lindsay C. Jenkins--

106. Adrienne Nelson--

107. Ana C. Reyes--

108. Daniel Calabretta--

109. Jamal Whitehead--

110. Jamar K. Walker--

111. Margaret R. Guzman--

112. Colleen Lawless--

113. Araceli Martinez-Olguin

114. Jonathan J.C. Grey--

115. Robert Stewart Ballou--

116. Andrew G. Schopler--

117. James E. Simmons, Jr.--

118. Arun Subramanian--

119. Maria Araújo Kahn--

120. Anthony Johnstone--

121. Matthew P. Brookman--

122. Michael E. Farbiarz--

123. Robert Kirsch--

124. Gordon Gallagher--

125. Orelia Merchant--

126. Wesley Hsu--

127. Nancy Abudu--

128. Jeremy C. Daniel--

129. Bradley N. Garcia--

130. LaShonda A. Hunt--

131. Amanda Brailsford--

132. Darrel J. Papillion--

133. Dale E. Ho--

134. P. Casey Pitts--

135. Hernán D. Vera--

136. Nusrat Juhan Choudhury--

137. Julie Rikelman--

138. Natasha C. Merle--

139. Molly Silfen--

140. Kymberly Evanson--

141. Tiffany M. Cartwright--

142. Myong J. Joun--

143. Jessica G.L. Clarke--

144. Rachel S. Bloomekatz--

145. Jeffrey Cummings--

146. Vernon D. Oliver--

147. Rita F. Lin--

148. Brendon A. Hurson--

149. Susan K. DeClercq--

150. Jennifer L. Hall--

151. Julia K. Munley--

152. Matthew J. Maddox--

153. Kenly Kato--

154. Julia Kobick--

155. Ramon Reyes--

156. Philip Hadji--

157. Monica Ramírez Almadani--

158. Brandy R. McMillion--

159. Ana de Alba--

160. Jeffrey Bryan--

161. Margaret Garnett--

162. Micah W.J. Smith--

163. Jamel K. Semper--

164. Shanlyn A.S. Park--

165. Irma Carrillo Ramirez--

166. Loren L. AliKhan--

167. Richard Federico--

168. Jerry Edwards Jr.--

169. Brandon Scott Long--

170. Sara E. Hill--

171. John D. Russell--

172. John A. Kazen--

173. Kato Crews--

174. Jacquelyn D. Austin--

175. Cristal C. Brisco--

176. Gretchen S. Lund--

177. Joshua P. Kolar--

178. Kirk E. Sherriff--

179. Karoline Mehalchick--

180. Lisa Wang--

181. Joseph A. Laroski--

182. Amy M. Baggio--

183. David S. Leibowitz--

184. Jacqueline Becerra--

185. Julie S. Sneed--

186. Melissa Damian--

187. Kelly H. Rankin--

188. Jasmine H. Yoon--

189. Sunil Harjani--

190. Melissa R. DuBose--

191. Nicole G. Berner--

192. Eumi K. Lee--

193. Edward S. Kiel--

194. Ernesto "Ernest" Gonzalez--

195. Leon Schydlower--

196. Susan M. Bazis--

197. Robert J. White--

198. Ann Marie McIff Allen--

199. Ramona Villagomez Manglona--

200. Georgia N. Alexakis--

201. Sanket J. Bulsara--

202. Eric Schulte--

203. Camela C. Theeler--

204. Seth Aframe--

205. Krissa M. Lanham--

206. Angela M. Martinez--

207. Dena M. Coggins--

208. Nancy L. Maldonado--

209. Robin M. Meriweather--

210. Kashi Way--

211. Stacey D. Neumann--

212. Adam B. Landy--

213. Meredith A. Vacca--

214. Joseph F. Saporito, Jr.--

215. Adam B. Abelson--

216. Jeannette Vargas--

217. Mary Kay Lanthier--

218. Laura Margarete Provinzino--

219. Natalie D. Richardson--

220. LaJohnne A. Morris--

221. Michael C. Holifield--

222. Stuart T. Kirkby--

223. Jennifer A. Parker--

224. Kevin G. Ritz--

225. Mary Kay Costello--

226. Michelle Williams Court--

227. Rose E. Jenkins--

228. Byron B. Conway--

229. Jeffrey Arbeit--

230. Benjamin A. Guider III--

31 Remaining

Other Nominees:

Mustafa T. Kashubai
Sarah F. Russell
Adeel A. Mangi
Amir Ali
Rebecca S. Kanter
Sparkle L. Sooknanan
Brian E. Murphy
Rebecca L. Pennell
Detra Shaw-Wilder
Anne Hwang
Danna Jackson
Sarah Netburn
April Perry
Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon
Embry J. Kidd
Cathy Fung
Karla M. Campbell
Julia M. Lipez
Catherine Henry
Noёl Wise
Ryan Y. Park
Jonathan E. Hawley
Gail A. Weilheimer
Anthony Brindisi
Tiffany R. Johnson
Keli M. Neary
Elizabeth C. Coombe
Sarah M. Davenport
Sharad H. Desai

Courts Flipped:

Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia
U.S. District Court for New Hampshire
U.S. District Court for Western Washington
U.S. District Court for Minnesota
U.S. District Court for New Mexico
U.S. District Court for Southern California
U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio
U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia
U.S. District Court for Eastern New York
U.S. District Court for Central California
U.S. District Court for Colorado
U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico
U.S. District Court for Hawaii
U.S. District Court for Utah
U.S. District Court for Northern Oklahoma
U.S. District Court for Northern Mississippi (2024)
U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin (2024)
U.S. District Court for Alaska (2024)
U.S. District Court for Guam (2024)
U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (2024)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (2024)
Third Circuit Court of Appeals (2024)
United States Tax Court (2024)
U.S. District Court for South Carolina (2025)

Disparities Ended (When Confirmed):

Native Americans: 5/6
Hispanic Men: 13/31
Hispanic Women: 21/52
Women: 136/159
LGBTQ: 12/87
Muslim Americans: 4/10

Notable Achievements:

Most Article III federal judges appointed in a president's first year and most judges appointed to the district courts in any president's first year since John F. Kennedy.
Most Native American federal judges appointed by any president.
Most Asian women appointed to the federal bench of any president in history and more Asian women appointed to the federal bench than all prior presidents combined.
Ended the disparity of Asian women, Asian men, and Asians overall in the federal court system.
First Muslim-American federal judges, including the first man and the first woman, appointed in U.S. history, as well as the first Muslim-American appellate judge in U.S. history.
First Bangladeshi American federal judge appointed in U.S. history.
First black woman confirmed to serve on the Supreme Court in the history of the United States.
Ended the disparity of black women in the U.S. federal court system and ended the disparity of black Americans as a whole in the federal court system.
Appointed more women of color to federal appeals courts than all other presidents combined.
Appointed the most black female federal judges of any president in U.S. history.
Appointed the most Asian American judges of any president in U.S. history.
Most LGBTQ+ judges appointed by any president in history.

Other Records To Break:

Most federal judges appointed by any president (Ronald Reagan: 241/383)
Most federal judges appointed by any Democrat (Bill Clinton: 241/378)
Most district judges appointed by any president (Bill Clinton: 181/310)
Most appellate judges appointed by any president (Ronald Reagan: 49/83)
Most federal judges appointed by any president in one term (Jimmy Carter: 241/262)
Most district judges appointed by any president in one term (Jimmy Carter: 181/203)
Most appellate judges appointed by any president in one term (Jimmy Carter: 49/59)
Most black male judges appointed by any president (17/X)
Most black judges appointed by any president (Bill Clinton: 48/65)
More black female judges than all other presidents combined (31/61)
Most Hispanic judges appointed by any president (Barack Obama: 33/40)
More Hispanic judges than all other presidents combined (33/155)
Most female federal judges of any president (Barack Obama: 136/144)
Most male Hispanic judges appointed by any president (13/X)
Most female Hispanic judges appointed by any president (21/X)
More Native American federal judges than all other presidents combined (5/6)
More LGBTQ federal judges than all prior presidents combined (12/21)

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