By Over the past four years, Biden and Schumer have made reshaping the federal judiciary a central priority. With Republican dominance across the executive and legislative branches approaching, the desperate majority leader has stressed that Democrats need to confirm as many judges as possible in their final weeks in power.
It’s their only chance to hinder Trump’s ambitious plans to reform how government works for regular Americans.
Democrats recently reached a significant milestone just before the holiday season. The Senate confirmed Joe Biden’s 235th judicial nominee—the highest total since President Jimmy Carter.
Schumer underscored the importance of these confirmations, explained The Daily Beast.
“I don’t know exactly what (Trump will) do. But I can tell you this: The judiciary will be one of our strongest — if not our strongest — barrier against what he does,” Schumer told Politico Playbook in an exclusive interview.
“They’re going to come after everything,” he said of the Trump administration. “They have so many different parts of MAGA: the people who are anti-women’s rights; the people who are anti-environment; the people who are anti-working people rights and union rights; the people who are anti-the consumer. They’re going to use the judiciary in every way they can.”
The Democrats didn’t go the traditional route of picking prosecutors and lawyers from “fancy” firms but chose people from all walks of life – civil rights lawyers, voting rights experts, teachers, mentors, union reps, scholars – to “resemble America,” Schumer boasted.
Schumer said they tried to get “as many judges confirmed as possible because we knew that Trump had loaded the bench up with a lot of MAGA judges and achieving balance was important. And the more the better.”
Schumer’s approach parallels the strategic focus on judicial confirmations pursued by former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during Trump’s presidency. McConnell’s efforts cemented a conservative-leaning judiciary, including the confirmation of three Supreme Court justices, which established a 6-3 conservative majority on the nation’s highest court. McConnell’s decision to block President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016, followed by the expedited confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020, marked key moments in the modern political battle over the courts.
With legislative gridlock appearing likely and executive actions facing intense legal scrutiny, the judiciary will continue to wield significant influence over U.S. policy. For Democrats, the judges appointed during Biden’s presidency represent not only a cornerstone of his legacy but also a critical defense against sweeping conservative policy changes.
For Schumer and Senate Democrats, the judiciary represents more than just a legal institution—it stands as a vital safeguard against policies they view as threats to their power.
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