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INSIGHTi
U.S. District Court Nominees Confirmed
During the First Year of the Biden Presidency:
Overview and Comparative Analysis
January 5, 2022
This Insight provides information related to the number of U.S. district court nominees confirmed during
the first calendar year of the Biden presidency (2021), as well as information about the number of such
nominees confirmed during the first years of presidencies from 1953 to 2017. Additionally, this Insight
provides demographic information about President Biden’s confirmed nominees, as well as the nominees
confirmed during the first years of the presidencies of his three immediate predecessors—Presidents
Trump (2017), Obama (2009), and George W. Bush (2001). Another Insight, available here, provides
similar information about U.S. circuit court nominees.
U.S. District Courts
U.S. district courts are the federal trial courts of general jurisdiction. These courts resolve civil disputes
and handle criminal matters by determining facts and applying legal principles. There are 91 U.S. district
courts established under Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Each state has at least one U.S. district court
(as do the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), while some states have as many as four district courts.
Three territories of the United States—Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands—also
have district courts established under Article IV of the U.S. Constitution (nominees to territorial courts
serve fixed terms and are not included in the data below).
Number of Confirmed Nominees
President Biden had 29 U.S. district court nominees confirmed during his first calendar year in office. As
shown by Figure 1, this is the third-highest number of district court nominees confirmed during the first
year of a presidency since 1953. Of the 11 presidencies included in Figure 1, the greatest number of
district court nominees confirmed during the first year of a presidency is 47 (in 1961 during the first year
of the Kennedy presidency).
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The 29 district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Biden presidency is above the
median number of such nominees confirmed during the first year of the 11 presidencies included in the
figure (with a median of 21 confirmed nominees).
The number of U.S. district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Biden presidency is also
the greatest number confirmed during the first year of a presidency since 1981 (when 32 district court
nominees were confirmed during the first year of the Reagan presidency).
Additionally, when combined with the number of U.S. circuit court nominees confirmed during the first
year of the Biden presidency (11 nominees), the number of district and circuit court nominees confirmed
in 2021 is the greatest total number of such nominees confirmed during the first year of any presidency
since 1981 (when a total of 40 nominees were also confirmed during the first year of the Reagan
presidency).
Figure 1. Number of U.S. District Court Nominees Confirmed During the First Year of a
Presidency
(1953-2021)
Source: Congressional Research Service.
Demographic Characteristics of Confirmed Nominees
Gender
Of the 29 U.S. district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Biden presidency, 23 (79%)
were women. This represents the second instance during the first year of any presidency that a majority of
confirmed district court nominees were women (with the first being in 2009).
For comparative purposes, Figure 2 provides data for the first years of the presidencies of President
Biden’s three immediate predecessors—Presidents Trump (2017), Obama (2009), and George W. Bush
(2001). Specifically, of the 6 district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Trump
presidency, 1 (17%) was a woman; of the 9 district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the
Obama presidency, 5 (56%) were women; and of the 22 district court nominees confirmed during the first
year of the Bush presidency, 6 (27%) were women.
The percentage of district court nominees confirmed during the first year of a presidency who were
women is not always reflective of the overall percentage of such nominees who were confirmed during an
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entire presidency. For example, of the 268 district court nominees confirmed during the entire Obama
presidency, 110 (41%) were women.
Overall, of the 611 active U.S. district court judges serving as of January 1, 2022, 214 (35%) were women
and 397 (65%) were men.
Figure 2. Demographic Background of U.S. District Court Nominees Confirmed During the
First Year of a Presidency
(2001-2021)
Source: Congressional Research Service.
Race
Of the 29 U.S. district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Biden presidency, 19 (66%)
were nonwhite (including 5 African American nominees, 5 Asian American nominees, 3 Hispanic
nominees, 1 American Indian nominee, and 5 biracial nominees). This represents the second instance
during the first year of any presidency that a majority of confirmed district court nominees were nonwhite
(with the first being in 2009).
For comparative purposes, Figure 2 provides data for each of the first years of the presidencies of
President Biden’s three immediate predecessors—Presidents Trump (2017), Obama (2009), and George
W. Bush (2001). Specifically, of the 6 district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the Trump
presidency, none were nonwhite; of the 9 district court nominees confirmed during the first year of the
Obama presidency, 5 (56%) were nonwhite; and of the 22 district court nominees confirmed during the
first year of the Bush presidency, 3 (14%) were nonwhite.
The percentage of district court nominees confirmed during the first year of a presidency who were
nonwhite is not always reflective of the overall percentage of such nominees who were confirmed during
an entire presidency. For example, of the 268 district court nominees confirmed during the entire Obama
presidency, 98 (37%) were nonwhite.
Overall, of the 611 active U.S. district court judges serving as of January 1, 2022, 177 (29%) were
nonwhite and 434 (71%) were white.
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Author Information
Barry J. McMillion
Analyst in American National Government
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United
States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However,
as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the
permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
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