The District Courts

Obviously, the Supreme Court today showed the reason why Democrats have needed to take the courts far more seriously than they have for many years. Luckily, enough are learning that Biden has had pretty good success in remaking the lower courts.

President Biden and Democrats, largely stymied by Republicans from enacting their policy agenda, have transformed the Senate into a judicial confirmation factory that has just passed a major milestone in its drive to remake the federal courts, approving the 100th district court nominee since Mr. Biden took office.

The pace of the effort has surpassed the one set by Republicans when they pushed to reshape the courts during the administration of former President Donald J. Trump, putting the Biden administration 20 district court nominees ahead of the Trump team at the same point in his term.

“These judges will affect America long after just about every senator is out of here,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, who has had a longtime interest in judicial confirmations. “It is hugely important. It’s a step-by-step process. It’s hard.”

Despite being slowed by absences and resistance from Republicans who see some Biden nominees as unacceptable, the Democratic-led Senate hit the 100 mark last week with a 50-to-49 vote to confirm Natasha Merle to a seat in the Eastern District of New York. She was one of a string of newly confirmed judges with civil rights backgrounds whose nominations had been slow to reach the floor given concerted Republican opposition.

Now, there’s plenty of reasons to want to speed this up even more and Russ Feingold (blast from the past) has made it his mission to push harder.

“It is a good thing so far,” said Russ Feingold, a former Democratic senator from Wisconsin who now heads the American Constitution Society. “It would be terrible shame to not continue that work in an aggressive manner over the next year, year and a half. We believe the Senate has to expand the calendar.”

Mr. Feingold noted that some of the newest judges had to wait nearly two years before their nominations were brought to the floor and he suggested Democrats were being too cautious.

“It really underscores the need for the Senate to pick up its pace generally,” Mr. Feingold said. “Waiting does not help anyone.”

Despite the pressure from the left, Senate Democrats are very unlikely to scrap their recess in a rush to confirm more judges. They say it would probably be futile since some senators would choose not to attend and Republicans could throw up new procedural roadblocks.

Before anyone gets too huffy and feels the need to defend Biden or Schumer from Feingold, remember that part of the point of being a lobbyist for such things is to push the political machines farther and faster that they want to go, even if Feingold knows what Schumer can really do. We aren’t a team. We are fighting to change the country. Telling our elected leaders that they aren’t doing enough is what you have to do here. Whether you believe that or not.