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Graphic featuring pro-abortion rights signs and the scales of justice, reading ''The Rush: Updates on the campaign to fill all judicial vacancies by 2023'' [[link removed]]

It’s official! The Democrats will hold the Senate—and have the potential to gain an extra seat should Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) win re-election in the Georgia Senate run-off in December. The Biden Administration, Leader Schumer, and Senator Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are well-positioned to push through a record-breaking number of federal judges over the next two years and we could not be more excited for the work to begin. Before we get to the next two years, we’re not done with our push to move overdue confirmations during the lame-duck session, which began November 14.

There are over 35 fair-minded equal justice nominees in the queue, here are just a few we highlight in our new Confirmations Overdue campaign [[link removed]] .

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The Good News
Senators returned to work this week and got right to it with the first post-election Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on November 15. This energetic start is thanks to the planning of Chairman Durbin, who has been assiduously processing nominees all year. The panels included Judge DeAndrea Benjamin [[link removed]] , nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and U.S. District Court nominees Myong Joun [[link removed]] (D. Ma), Todd Edelman [[link removed]] (D.D.C), among others.

The panelists all did phenomenally during the hearing, answering Senators questions thoughtfully and concisely. Most notably, Judge Benjamin kept her composure while Republican Senators badgered her with repetitive and obtuse questions. The full Senate also confirmed María Antongiorgi-Jordán to the District of Puerto Rico. To date, the Biden Administration has confirmed 85 Article III judges, with an additional 24 nominees pending on the Senate floor.
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Pay Attention: Confirmations Overdue—Let's Move Exemplary Champions of Justice

AFJ is calling [[link removed]] on the Senate to demonstrate its commitment to our courts by confirming at least ten nominees by the end of November. This would set an impressive pace toward confirming the remaining nominees by the end of the lame duck period, including all 24 who have already been voted out of committee.

The following nominees are examples of the fantastic equal justice champions awaiting final votes:

Dale Ho [[link removed]] - U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Natasha Merle [[link removed]] - U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Nancy Abudu [[link removed]] - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Georgia)
Tiffany Cartwright [[link removed]] - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Western District of Washington
Rachel Bloomekatz [[link removed]] - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Ohio)
Bradley Garcia [[link removed]] - U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
Julie Rikelman [[link removed]] - U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (Massachusetts)
Jamal Whitehead [[link removed]] - U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Araceli Martinez-Olguin [[link removed]] - U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Justice Adrienne Nelson [[link removed]] - U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

These nominees, and many more like them, have backgrounds and expertise in voting rights, civil rights, employment and labor, immigrant rights, and more under-represented areas of the law that our democracy needs on the bench immediately. They are all long overdue for a final vote. Check out a blog post [[link removed]] written by Zack Ford, AFJ’s press secretary, to learn more.

What's Next

It’s time to keep the pressure on! Despite Democratic election success, it is still vital to confirm the queue of nominees before the start of the next Congress. Judiciary Committee Chairman Durbin has promised to get through as many of the nominees as possible by the end of the year: “I want to do this for my colleagues who have worked on these for months and they shouldn’t face more delay. We have more than 100 vacancies on the federal bench.” Let’s see this through!

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