Alexander Sammon writes about judicial nominees for The American Prospect:
The Biden White House far outpaced other Democratic administrations in filling vacancies, actually confirming the most judges for a first-year president since Ronald Reagan; Donald Trump only confirmed 18 in year one, and Barack Obama just 12. Biden also nominated an overwhelming number of judges with public-service backgrounds (though not all).
But in year two, that project has collapsed. The quality of nominees has deteriorated, as corporate lawyers have regained the lion’s share of appointments. An excessive and unrequited deference to Senate norms and procedures has gummed up the confirmation process, resulting in a number of Republican-picked judges getting confirmed, even as up to 65 seats could remain unfilled by the end of the year.
“The Remus letter was rightfully seen as this incredible document, and there were pretty high hopes at the outset. In the first year of the administration, everyone agreed that the White House did a great job with judges,” said Molly Coleman, co-founder of the People’s Parity Project, a progressive legal advocacy group. “Now, they’re just not making it a priority at all. In addition to the inactivity, it seems pretty obvious that we’re going back to Obama-style nominees the closer we get to the midterms.”