Good morning! ☕️

Last night, with little fanfare, the Senate confirmed the first openly LGBTQ woman to a lifetime seat on a U.S. appeals court. huffpost.com/entry/beth-rob…
Beth Robinson, who's been an associate justice on the Vermont Supreme Court since 2011, now has a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Every Democrat present voted for her.

Only two Republicans did: Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.
Of note about Robinson:

Prior to being on the Vermont Supreme Court, she represented LGBTQ clients in civil and civil rights cases, including leading the freedom-to-marry movement in Vermont.
Also of note about Robinson's confirmation: It shifts the balance of this U.S. appeals court to a majority Democrat-appointed panel of judges.

She is the third judge Biden has gotten confirmed to this court this year. Lifetime appts.
With Robinson's confirmation, along with another judge confirmed last night, Biden is now up to 28 appeals court and district court judges confirmed since taking office.

That’s more than any president in modern history has had confirmed by this point in their term.
For comparison's sake, by this point in their presidencies, the number of appeals + district court judges confirmed were...

Trump: 12
Obama: 5
GWB: 12
Clinton: 8
GWHB: 7
Reagan: 19
Carter: 26

Biden: 28.
Lots of takeaways on what's happening here.

Biden is both 1) flying through judicial confirmations + 2) putting people into lifetime court appts who look very different + come from very different backgrounds than most other judges on the federal bench. huffpost.com/entry/beth-rob…
In case it needs to be said again, these are all lifetime appointments.

These people will be on the courts long after Biden is gone and one of his most enduring legacies.

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More from @jbendery

3 Nov
In light of Youngkin's win last night, I'd just note the role that Senate Republicans played in trying to help him win by ginning up fear, anger + transphobia over a misreported sexual assault incident in a Virginia school. huffpost.com/entry/republic…
During this Judiciary Committee hearing in late Oct, nearly every Republican focused on a May incident involving a teenage boy sexually assaulting a teenage girl at a high school in Loudoun County, Va.

This was a hearing for a nominee to a California-based U.S. court seat.
I did a whole thread on this at the time because it was bizarre and made no sense why Senate Republicans were doing this -- until you considered what they were doing in the context of the tight Virginia governor's race.

Read 12 tweets
2 Nov
Sens. Leahy (D), Durbin (D), Manchin (D) and Murkowski (R) just announced a bipartisan compromise on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

"This proposal ... reflects months of bipartisan negotiations and seeks to garner broader support in the Senate."
Here's a summary of the key changes to this compromise bipartisan bill:

leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
And here's the full text of their compromise bill:

leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Read 4 tweets
27 Oct
Oh look, the GOP's much-publicized case of a sexual assault in a Loudoun County, Va. school is not at all what they said it was.

It had nothing to do with transgender-inclusive bathroom policies. But Republicans feigned outrage that it did. huffpost.com/entry/gop-virg… via @aterkel
This was not a case of a teenage girl being ambushed in a girls' bathroom by a "gender fluid" teenage boy.

It was 2 teens who had been regularly using the girls' bathroom for consensual encounters, and then one of these encounters apparently turned violent.
News of the incident was picked up, twisted and amplified by conservative media, which said this was evidence that policies allowing students to use public bathrooms that match their gender ID put girls in danger.

Total garbage.
Read 14 tweets
26 Oct
Good morning! ☕️

In case you missed it, last night, Senate Democrats confirmed longtime voting rights attorney and advocate Myrna Pérez to a lifetime seat on a U.S. appeals court. huffpost.com/entry/myrna-pe…
Perez's confirmation comes at a time when voting rights are under assault nationwide.

Republicans in 19 states have enacted at least 31 new laws THIS YEAR to restrict voting rights -- primarily targeting people of color -- and overhaul elections for their own partisan gains.
Not a single Republican senator voted to confirm Perez.

These are the same Republican senators who have now blocked voting rights legislation 3 times this year.
Read 8 tweets
25 Oct
Tonight, the Senate confirmed longtime voting rights attorney and advocate Myrna Pérez to a lifetime seat on a U.S. appeals court huffpost.com/entry/myrna-pe…
Perez's confirmation comes at a time when voting rights are under assault nationwide.

Republicans in 19 states have enacted at least 31 new laws this year to restrict voting rights and overhaul elections for their own partisan gains.
Every Democrat present voted to confirm Perez.

No Republicans voted for her. huffpost.com/entry/myrna-pe…
Read 5 tweets
25 Oct
The Congressional Women's Softball Game is THIS Wednesday.

It's female lawmakers vs female reporters. We play to raise $ for young survivors of breast cancer.

We're also encouraged to talk smack to gin up excitement, but I don't need to do that because we are going to win. 😃
Come on out to the game. All are welcome. It's one of few (the only?) events on Cap Hill that remains bipartisan and fun.

The lawmakers' team is led by @SenCapito + @DWStweets. They are fun. They will also be defeated by Bad News Babes. ⚾️

Details here: congwomensoftball.org
You never know who will show up at these games or what will happen.

Sonia Sotomayor threw out a pitch one year.

So did Gabby Giffords.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (then a Rep.) randomly did cartwheels across the field. She was 56. Image
Read 8 tweets

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