‘Demographic Diversity’: Senate Confirms Fourth Biden Judicial Nominee This Week
Katelynn Richardson on March 1, 2023
The Senate confirmed a fourth Biden judicial nominee this week, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote for the second time.
Harris cast the final vote on Wednesday to confirm Margaret Guzman as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts and on Tuesday to confirm Araceli Martínez-Olguín to the U.S. District Court for California’s Northern District, Reuters reported. Republicans have been critical of many of Biden’s nominees. U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that Biden’s nominees have been in the headlines “for all the wrong reasons” during remarks on the Senate floor, pointing to the White House’s prioritization of demographics over qualifications.
CONFIRMED: Margaret Guzman to the District of Massachusetts.
Judge Guzman will bring professional and demographic diversity to the bench as a former public defender and as the first Hispanic judge to serve on the District of Massachusetts. pic.twitter.com/dWOdpuHqM6
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) March 1, 2023
“The quality of President Biden’s judicial nominees has been in the headlines recently — for all the wrong reasons,” he said in a statement. “Recently the White House celebrated their 100th judicial confirmation with a bizarre press release that spent less than one sentence talking about legal qualifications before devoting five paragraphs to the nominees’ demographics.”
In the Feb. 14 press release, President Biden said his nominees “represent the diversity that is one of our best assets as a nation.”
“We have made important progress in ensuring that the federal judiciary not only looks more like the nation as a whole, but also includes judges from professional backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented on the bench,” Biden said.
McConnell noted a recent analysis showing that Democrat-nominated judges are “significantly less likely to have clerked at the Supreme Court, clerked at a circuit court, or graduated law school with top academic honors compared to the judges that Republicans spent the previous four years confirming.”
WATCH:@LeaderMcConnell highlights the striking difference in the quality of judges appointed by President Trump compared to the judges being appointed by President Biden. pic.twitter.com/StOmmHcAAD
— JCN (@judicialnetwork) March 1, 2023
McConnell said the Judiciary Committee will consider more nominees on Thursday, including Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren from Washington State, who “was unable to recall” Article V or Article II of the Constitution during her hearing, and New Hampshire attorney Michael Delaney, who allegedly “threatened a teenage Jane Doe victim of sexual assault that he’d fight to strip away her anonymity.”
“This is the caliber of judicial nominees this Administration is sending the Senate,” McConnell said. “Folks who couldn’t pass a high school civics exam on the Constitution, and folks who threaten a high-school girl when she demands accountability for being attacked.”
“Judge Guzman will bring professional and demographic diversity to the bench as a former public defender and as the first Hispanic judge to serve on the District of Massachusetts,” the Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted.
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