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"You know, it's like a gut punch to millions of people," Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said about the $15-an-hour minimum wage coming out of President Biden's COVID-19 relief package. But she says her vote will be based on the bill as a whole, even though it doesn't include the wage hike. Patrick Semansky/AP hide caption

"You know, it's like a gut punch to millions of people," Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus, said about the $15-an-hour minimum wage coming out of President Biden's COVID-19 relief package. But she says her vote will be based on the bill as a whole, even though it doesn't include the wage hike.

Updated at 11:20 a.m. ET

President Biden wasn't many progressives' first, second, third or maybe even 20th choice in the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

But ever since winning the party's nomination last spring amid the onset of the global pandemic and economic downturn, Biden has vowed to govern as the most progressive president since Franklin Roosevelt. He's even made a large portrait of FDR the centerpiece of his Oval Office to underscore that goal.

Many progressive lawmakers and activists say they're largely pleased with the early weeks of Biden's presidency, and the open doors, phone lines and Zoom sessions they've been met with by the White House.

Progressives are "strong partners in everything we do in this White House," said Emmy Ruiz, Biden's director of political strategy and outreach. "We view them as critical and key partners in the White House. They're an important part of that broad coalition that elected Joe Biden."

"Understanding I'm grading on a curve it's not Bernie Sanders' agenda, and it's not Medicare For All, and it's not going to be a wealth tax. It's not going to be anything like that right now," said Faiz Shakir, an adviser and onetime campaign manager to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. "But in the areas where we can get the 50 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House and see how progressive we can be with it, well, I think we're getting near-best-possible outcomes."

Shakir played a role in urging Biden to record a video this week encouraging a unionization effort among Amazon warehouse employees in Alabama a step that went far beyond how previous Democratic presidents have engaged in specific labor disputes. It led to big cheers from progressive quarters.

But whether Biden should seek 50 or 60 Senate votes for his priorities is now the source of the most public rift yet between a president who built his reputation on compromise and working with Republicans, and the progressive base he's spent the past year courting and drafting policy with.

Biden made a $15-an-hour minimum wage a long-sought progressive goal a part of his $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan. The House included the increase in the version passed last week with a party-line vote. But the Senate's parliamentarian ruled the proposal doesn't fit within the narrow and complicated rules that govern the chamber's budget measures, which can pass on simple majorities, rather than the 60 votes needed for most other bills to advance.

California Rep. Ro Khanna has led a House Democratic effort to pressure Vice President Harris, who also serves as the president of the Senate, to overturn that ruling. Harris, Biden and Senate Democratic leaders have made it clear that isn't happening. So, as the Senate prepares to vote on the massive spending bill later this week, the measure won't include an agenda item progressives have rallied and organized around for years and that Biden campaigned on implementing.

The White House maintains that Biden is "deeply committed" to raising the minimum wage. "We were disappointed that the parliamentarian ruled against included minimum wage," said Ruiz. "What the president has said, and what we are all incredibly committed to, is finding other avenues and other lanes for accomplishing this goal of reaching an increase in the minimum wage."

But progressives like Khanna worry those other avenues will fall short. "If you're not going to pass this through reconciliation, how are we going to get a significant minimum wage increase?" he asked.

Many progressives were especially frustrated that Biden was already backing off the wage increase a couple of weeks before the parliamentarian ruled. "Well, apparently that's not going to occur because of the rules of the United States Senate," Biden told CBS News last month during a sit-down interview before the Super Bowl. "My guess is it will not be in it."

"You know, it's like a gut punch to millions of people," recalled Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus. "Because he came out so bold on including $15. And then suddenly to preempt made no sense to us."

Khanna likened Biden's interview to a lawyer confiding to a jury that she or he wasn't fully sold on the merits of the case.

Are progressive frustrations enough to sink the larger relief package, Biden's top legislative priority, without the wage boost? Almost certainly not.

"I would vote for it," Khanna conceded. "Because I don't in good conscience can't deny people unemployment insurance. I can't deny schools the money they need to reopen. I can't deny people checks they need to pay rent or make their daily expenses."

Asked whether she'd make the minimum wage an ultimatum for her final support, Jayapal was careful to say her vote would be based on the bill as whole not just that one aspect. "If this package were to get significantly watered down by Senate Democrats, that would be a problem for progressives in the House."

Like most other progressives, Jayapal is stressing the fact she still sees the Biden White House as a good faith ally, albeit an ally she and other progressives will have many tactical disagreements with. "It's been a very good relationship. That doesn't mean we're not going to tussle and tangle at times."

A portrait of Franklin Roosevelt is a centerpiece in President Biden's Oval Office, signaling his promise of an ambitious presidency in a national crisis. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images hide caption

A portrait of Franklin Roosevelt is a centerpiece in President Biden's Oval Office, signaling his promise of an ambitious presidency in a national crisis.

That overall feeling frustration, but no clear effort to derail what will be one of the largest spending bills in U.S. history is why the White House is so confident the rescue plan will pass the evenly-divided Senate this week and that House will approve the final amended version, too, sending it to Biden's desk by the end of next week.

But the frustration and worry bubbled up so quickly because many progressives see the minimum wage hike as the first of several Democratic priorities that will almost certainly die in a hyper-partisan Senate that's split 50-50, but still operates under rules requiring 60 votes so, support from at least 10 Republicans to break a possible filibuster and pass legislation. (Filibuster rules for administration and judicial nominations have rapidly disappeared over the past decade.)

"There's going to be a whole lot of things coming down the pike," said Shakir, pointing to voting rights legislation, measures aimed at strengthening organized labor and campaign finance reform, among other Democratic priorities. "And you can imagine that those are areas where Republicans are not going to offer the 10 votes to get you past the 60-vote threshold."

More and more Democrats have called for the elimination of the legislative filibuster in recent years.

Biden has only reluctantly and conditionally backed those calls to end the filibuster, and they may be moot anyway. Moderate Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have said they'd vote against rules changes, making changes all but impossible at a time when Democrats only control the chamber through Harris' tie-breaking vote.

With those existing Senate rules making the type of sweeping changes Biden campaigned on all but impossible in Congress, the tension that bubbled between the White House and progressives this week will almost certainly increase. "We appreciate, we recognize that the Biden administration on many policies has adopted things that Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, progressives have been talking about," said Khanna. "But ultimately the question is, are we going to have a view of structural change that is necessary to make those laws?"

And if progressives aren't quite ready to exert their will on the Biden administration by stalling the president's priorities in Congress, they're making it clear that without big tactical changes like eliminating the legislative filibuster, Biden and the rest of the party might suffer consequences in the midterm elections next year and in 2024.

"Those things are very, very popular across the country in Republican and Democratic districts," said Jayapal, referring to the $15 minimum wage and campaign finance reforms, among other progressive priorities. "And nobody is going to be interested in procedural reasons why we can't deliver."

"If the Senate becomes under Democrats what it was under Mitch McConnell the graveyard where all good things go to die that is going to be a huge problem for us in the midterms," she said. "Both in retaining control of the Senate and retaining control of the House."

Read more:
$15 Minimum Wage Fight Tests Biden's Ties To Progressives - NPR

"I know you're all making some small compromises and I want to thank you, thank you for the work you've done," he told a virtual gathering of the caucus. "People are going to remember how we showed up."

For some listening on the other end, the compromises do not feel so small.

Despite a constant open phone line between the White House and progressive members of Congress, liberal dissatisfaction persists with how the Covid-19 bill has advanced. The influence of moderate Democrats in the Senate to make or break the package has left some questioning whether their priorities are being overlooked.

"That is one that people came out to the streets for," said Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California of the wage hike. "That's the one that they voted on. And I think that it would be a colossal political blunder to go into the midterms not having delivered a significant minimum wage increase."

Khanna said he and fellow progressives have had direct conversations with White House officials about the wage issue, which Biden's aides insist he remains supportive of passing outside of the Covid-19 relief package.

"They take our calls, but what does that mean?" Khanna said. "There just does not seem to be a strategy to raise the minimum wage at all."

White House officials say they are still sorting out how to move ahead on the minimum wage after it was stripped from the Covid-19 relief plan for procedural reasons. That could include talks with Republicans on a phased approach, officials said, which is unlikely to satisfy progressives eager for Biden to fulfill his pledge of increasing the wage to $15 per hour.

Asked Thursday whether moderate Democrats were being asked to compromise on the bill, even as progressives see their items stripped, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had been "unmovable" on the size of the package and its inclusion of $1,400 checks and state and local funding.

"He has been insistent that the scope of the challenge requires this size of a package and in order to address these twin crises that we are facing it needs to have these key components included," she said.

In an apparent attempt to shore up support for the measure within their party, Senate Democrats said Thursday they'd secured a number of provisions for the bill, including money for homeless services, infrastructure, rural health care providers, education, the arts and Amtrak, among other items. It also makes all Covid-19 student debt relief tax free.

Yet after drawing plaudits for his outreach to progressives during the campaign, some members of the movement are now upset that key demands are being stripped from the bill.

Divergent wishes

Focused for now on economic relief, the divergent wishes of progressive and moderate Democrats could become even more plain as legislation looms on infrastructure spending, gun control, immigration, equality issues and voting rights.

The different dynamics at play in the House where Democrats hold a slightly firmer majority and the Senate, where Biden cannot afford to lose a single Democratic vote, have complicated matters. And Biden's own view of his executive authorities -- including, for example, limited scope on student loan forgiveness -- have sometimes put him at odds with his party's liberal wing.

For now, the President's goal is to unify Democrats behind the Covid-19 relief plan to ensure its passage before unemployment benefits expire March 14. He's held phone calls and virtual meetings with Democrats every day this week, including with a group of moderates on Monday and the entire caucus during their lunch on Tuesday. He spoke Wednesday with House Democrats, some of whom have become sharply critical of changes made to the Covid-19 relief bill they passed last month.

"A diverse caucus isn't a divided caucus," he told them, insisting that once the bill is passed Democrats must promote it heavily.

Still, Biden's efforts haven't prevented members of his party from speaking out. On Wednesday, a decision reached by moderate Democrats and signed-off on by Biden to phase out stimulus checks for Americans at higher income levels drew skepticism from progressive Democrats.

"Conservative Dems have fought so the Biden admin sends fewer & less generous relief checks than the Trump admin did," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York tweeted. "It's a move that makes little-to-no political or economic sense, and targets an element of relief that is most tangibly felt by everyday people. An own-goal."

More than anything else, though, the minimum wage fight has highlighted progressives' limited patience. The White House has said Biden wanted the wage increase included in Covid-19 relief but he recognized it was unlikely to pass parliamentary muster because the bill is moving through a process called reconciliation that has strict requirements for what can be included.

White House aides have been less clear on how Biden hopes to see the minimum wage increased going forward.

"He is going to be in conversations, and we will be at a number of levels with members of Congress, with their staffs, about the best vehicle moving forward," Psaki said this week. "But we don't have a clear answer on what that looks like at this point. It remains a commitment and something he will use his political capital to get done."

Progressive agenda

That lack of a strategy and an unwillingness to engage has progressives worried this could be a sign of what is to come.

"This is going to be a harbinger for a whole bunch of other promises that Democrats have made. People are only going to give us a couple of shots to see if we're really going to deliver after they delivered us, the House, the Senate and the White House," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who chairs the House Progressive Caucus.

Jayapal, along with other likeminded Democrats, have argued the use of reconciliation -- which limits what can be included in a bill -- to get around filibusters requiring 60 votes to break could be circumvented by eliminating filibusters altogether, another debate pitting moderate Democrats with more liberal members of the party.

The filibuster issue also continues to be a pressure point between the White House and liberal members of Congress, who want Biden to encourage Vice President Kamala Harris, in her Senate tie-breaking role, both to overrule the parliamentarian and strike down the filibuster.

Whether either of those issues made it to a 50-50 vote that Harris would break remains doubtful; moderate Democrats such as Manchin have said quite adamantly they oppose eliminating the filibuster.

Yet progressives remain adamant on the issue, saying the rules have been exploited by Republicans to scuttle issues a majority of Americans voted for.

"The filibuster is something that gives Mitch McConnell a veto. And that has to stop," said Warren. "We watched him use it during the Obama administration and he is already using it now during the Biden administration. We weren't elected to come here and be a debating society, that gives Mitch McConnell a veto on every single piece of legislation that is needed to help American families."

Warren and Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, both called on Harris to ignore or overrule the parliamentarian on the minimum wage.

Harris, who served in the Senate until being elected vice president, has yet to personally weigh in. But Biden has said several times that his administration will respect the rules of the Senate.

That includes honoring the parliamentarian's ruling and keeping the filibuster in place. Sticking by that position likely means that a whole host of Democratic priorities from health care, to immigration to police reform could be held hostage to a 60-vote threshold. Progressives want Biden and Harris to be the ones to encourage Senate Democrats to change the rules of the game.

"Many of us are telling the administration, especially Vice President Harris, that people at home don't really understand how this stuff is done here, and they don't care how it's done as long as it's done," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

But congressional leaders have defended Biden's approach. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the idea that the White House wasn't doing enough to power through legislation of consequence.

"The White House was right out there with this very early," Pelosi said on their role in the minimum wage fight. "We have no complaints."

Pelosi also rejected the idea that there won't be other opportunities to pass a minimum wage hike. But other progressives aren't so sure.

Read more:
Progressives irked by Biden's early deal-making to hold Dems together - CNN

Nearly two dozen House progressives on Monday called on President BidenJoe BidenSenate holds longest vote in history as Democrats scramble to save relief bill Ex-Trump appointee arrested in Capitol riot complains he won't be able to sleep in jail Biden helps broker Senate deal on unemployment benefits MORE and Vice President Harris to overturn the Senate parliamentarians ruling that a $15 minimum wage could not be included in Democrats sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

Eighty-one million people cast their ballots to elect you on a platform that called for a $15 minimum wage, the progressives wrote in a letter to Biden and Harris that was spearheaded by Rep. Ro KhannaRohit (Ro) KhannaTexas power grid CEO fired in wake of massive storm outages How to create the next 10 great American tech clusters OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Interior reverses Trump policy that it says restricted science | Collins to back Haaland's Interior nomination | Republicans press Biden environment nominee on Obama-era policy MORE (D-Calif.), a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

We urge you to keep that promise and call on the Presiding Officer of the Senate to refute the Senate Parliamentarians advice... and maintain the $15 minimum wage provision in the American Rescue Plan.

Progressives are furious over Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonoughs ruling last week that a provision to hike the federal minimum wage to $15per hour could not be part of the coronavirus stimulus package under the budget reconciliation process.

That process would allow Democrats to push through their massive COVID-19 relief package with a simple majority rather than the usual 60 votes, but the Senates Byrd Rule requires provisions to impact federal spending or revenue.

MacDonough, essentially the Senates chief referee, said the wage hike did not pass that test.

Progressives now want Harris who as vice president serves as president of the Senate to overrule the parliamentarian. Some progressives are going even further, saying MacDonough should be fired over her decision, something Republicans did back in 2001 after they didnt like a ruling of the parliamentarian.

But Biden and top White House officials have said they respect the ruling and are not entertaining either idea.

Over the weekend, the House passed a version of Bidens $1.9 trillion package that included the $15 wage hike.

But based on MacDonoughs ruling, the Senate this week is poised to strip that provision out and send it back to the House. Senate Democrats also have decided to drop their Plan B on the minimum wage, saying a provision authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron WydenRonald (Ron) Lee WydenSenate Democrats vote to provide 0 unemployment benefits into September Senate holds longest vote in history as Democrats scramble to save relief bill Biden helps broker Senate deal on unemployment benefits MORE (D-Ore.) to tax big corporations that do not pay their workers a higher wage will not be added to the package as it moves through the upper chamber.

But progressives see attaching the wage hike to the COVID-19 package as the best way to get the popular policy signed into law. And they argue that voters handed Democrats the White House, House and Senate last fall in part because of their promises to raise the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for the past 12 years.

We must act now to prevent tens of millions of hardworking Americans from being underpaid any longer, the progressives wrote. The outdated and complex Byrd rule rooted in restricting progress must not be an impediment to improving peoples lives. You have the authority to deliver a raise for millions of Americans.

In addition to Khanna, the letter was signed by Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila JayapalPramila JayapalProgressives won't oppose bill over limits on stimulus checks Democrats snipe on policy, GOP brawls over Trump House Democrats' ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade MORE (D-Wash.); veteran progressives like Reps. Ral Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Barbara LeeBarbara Jean LeePro-Choice Caucus asks Biden to remove abortion fund restrictions from 2022 budget Progressives push White House to overturn wage ruling Lawmakers, Martin Luther King III discuss federal responses to systematic racism MORE (D-Calif.); progressive stars like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezAlexandria Ocasio-CortezProgressives won't oppose bill over limits on stimulus checks Bipartisan bill would ban lawmakers from buying, selling stocks The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - J&J vax rollout today; third woman accuses Cuomo MORE (D-N.Y.), Rashida TlaibRashida Harbi TlaibProgressives push White House to overturn wage ruling Six ways to visualize a divided America Jamaal Bowman's mother dies of COVID-19: 'I share her legacy with all of you' MORE (D-Mich.) and Ilhan OmarIlhan OmarHouse approves George Floyd Justice in Policing Act House Democrats' ambitious agenda set to run into Senate blockade Omar introduces bill to sanction Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing MORE (D-Minn.); and first-term Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.).

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Progressives push White House to overturn $15 wage ruling | TheHill - The Hill

The first theme to emerge in progressives' reaction to the news has been to call out the parliamentarian, even going as far as calling for a replacement to fill the role, despite the White House's reaction to move forward with the parliamentarian's decision and the reality that overruling a parliamentarian decision is highly unlikely.

"As a representative of a community that is very deeply impacted by this issue, I know that going back to my family's community in the Bronx and in Queens, we can't tell them that this didn't get done because of an unelected parliamentarian," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, told reporters at the Capitol on Friday.

"All options should be on the table," Ocasio-Cortez added when asked if the parliamentarian should be fired as was done in 2001.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state framed the parliamentarian's ruling to reporters as "an advisory opinion" instead of a final judgment.

Even though Vice President Kamala Harris technically has the power to overrule the parliamentarian, it is highly unlikely that that will happen.

But as progressives are showing, this is not a fight they can afford to give up.

"Democrats made a lot of promises in winning the House, the Senate and the White House, and it's going to come up again and again," Jayapal said. "So, we're going to have to make a choice here. Are we going to stick to these rules or are we actually going to use the levers of government to work for the people? To me that's not radical that's governing."

"I think it is really important for us to draw a hard line," Omar said on CNN's "Inside Politics."

"This majority wasn't given to us to sit on the sidelines," Omar continued, adding that it is "unacceptable" for Democrats to "continue to come up with excuses on why we can't do the right thing on behalf of the American people."

Even though progressives have made their deep-seeded anger well-known, short of withholding their vote on the Covid package, which none have signaled is a move they will take, their options are limited in terms of how they can force Congress to pass a $15 minimum wage bill given the makeup of the Senate.

"Progressives are furious with the parliamentarian's move and are pushing for the decision to be overruled, but they are not likely to sink the entire relief package over this. We all recognize that the real fight is over the filibuster and will continue to push to make sure we get rid of the filibuster so we can pass the President's agenda," a senior staffer to a prominent progressive member tells CNN.

As Ocasio-Cortez sees it there are two immediate options progressives can take: "Do something about this parliamentary obstacle or abolish the filibuster."

Ocasio-Cortez also floated to reporters that a standalone bill could be possible, but pointed to the hurdle that Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are against raising the minimum wage through reconciliation, present in the Senate.

"If we can pass a standalone bill, let's do it, but the fact that we have two people in this entire country -- two people in this entire country -- that are holding back a complete transformation in working people's lives, the same people who have held our country together throughout this pandemic, is wrong," Ocasio-Cortez said.

While House progressives are calling for dramatic and bold action to push a minimum wage increase through, their counterparts on the Senate side are far more measured on the topic. When the parliamentarian's ruling was revealed, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, did not entertain the idea of ignoring her ruling or breaking up the filibuster. Instead Sanders offered up an alternative plan to withhold tax breaks from large corporations from companies who refuse to pay their workers at least $15 an hour.

"In the coming days, I will be working with my colleagues in the Senate to move forward with an amendment to take tax deductions away from large, profitable corporations that don't pay workers at least $15 an hour and to provide small businesses with the incentives they need to raise wages. That amendment must be included in this reconciliation bill," Sanders said in a statement.

His plan was quickly supported by other key Senate leaders like Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The quick pivot to the alternative proposal shows Senate Democrats, even the most progressive ones, are unwilling to buck the traditions of the institution for something like a minimum wage hike despite the pleas from their House counterparts who don't have the power to make it happen.

Ocasio-Cortez was open to the idea of the tax penalty, telling reporters Sanders is "doing the right thing" by introducing the last-minute proposal, but warned "it's certainly not a replacement" for the long coveted $15 minimum wage legislation.

Members of the progressive group of Democratic lawmakers known as "The Squad" are not stopping from putting the pressure on the upper chamber to break with tradition. Omar said on CNN Friday that she wants to push the Senate and White House "to do the right thing" and "if not, then we have to look at our options in the House when the bill returns to us."

"I mean it's really important for us to use every single opportunity we have to engage in this fight to provide an actual path to increasing the minimum wage," Omar added.

A slew of progressive groups -- including Battle Born Collective, Justice Democrats, Data For Progress, Sunrise Movement and New Deal Strategies -- put out a joint statement Thursday night calling on lawmakers to put forward minimum wage as a standalone bill and abolish the filibuster if needed.

"Democrats should bring President Biden's popular policies like a $15 minimum wage straight to the Senate floor under regular order. If Republicans choose to block them, Democrats must abolish the filibuster to pass them. This approach is morally right, and it will deliver bigger, better results that the American people desperately need. It's that simple," the groups wrote.

The trepidation that most members of Congress feel over sending a minimum wage bill over to the Senate does not seem to faze Jayapal.

"The fears are not real," Jayapal said Friday, highlighting that progressives have public opinion on their side. "We have to bring all of that data out clearly including from constituents in West Virginia."

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to reflect two Democratic senators are against raising the minimum wage through the reconciliation process.

Read the original here:
House and Senate progressives split over next steps on minimum wage - CNN

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Donald Trumps historic shakeup of the roster of US federal judges will not soon be reversed, despite his exit from the White House.

In just one term, Trump managed to replace more than 25% of federal judges overall and more than 30% of powerful circuit court judges. His picks were disproportionately white men with conservative views on immigration, abortion and the environment. With lifetime appointments, those judges will have a strong influence on the course of American life for decades to come.

But Joe Biden has an opportunity to reverse some of the damage, as progressives see it.

While Trump and his Republican accomplices left a small number of judicial vacancies on the table, additional vacancies have already arisen as judges retire or take senior status with curtailed workloads steps certain judges were known to be putting off as long as Trump was in office.

This past weekend, Judge Barbara Keenan of the fourth circuit court of appeals, a Barack Obama appointee, announced that she would take senior status in August, creating a 10th vacancy at the appeals court level for Biden to fill.

I certainly think its a factor that judges held off on taking senior status when Trump was in office, said Daniel L Goldberg, legal director of the progressive Alliance For Justice, so they could not be replaced by an ultra-conservative judge who wished to turn back the clock on so many of our rights.

Judicial watchdog groups see early promising signs in the Biden administrations approach to the challenge. Incoming Biden administration lawyers sent a letter to senators in December requesting a racially and ethnically diverse pool of judicial recommendations, just as Barack Obama had done before Trumps white male makeover.

The Biden letter also asked for judges from outside the Ivy League and corporate pipeline, which was not a priority for Obama.

We are particularly focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench, the Biden letter said, including those who are public defenders, civil rights and legal aid attorneys, and those who represent Americans in every walk of life.

On Monday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said judicial nominees were something Biden was focused on personally.

But as Biden prepares to make his first judicial nominations, advocacy groups are watching carefully to see whether he follows through on that stated priority. And the first recommendation to come Bidens way to be made public has drawn objections in some progressive circles.

To fill a vacancy on Colorados federal district court, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, a Democrat, recommended Regina Rodriguez, a former federal prosecutor originally nominated by Obama, whose mother was detained in a Japanese internment camp and who would be the second Latina in history to serve on the court.

But Rodriguez, currently a partner at the multinational WilmerHale law firm, also has roots in the corporate world, drawing accusations that her advancement exemplified fealty to big law.

The progressive judicial advocacy group Demand Justice has produced a video ad opposing the recommendation which is not yet an official nomination.

President Biden is ready to make a change, restoring balance to the courts by appointing lawyers who stand up for regular people, the ad says. But Bennet is standing in the way, demanding Biden appoint another corporate law partner.

Through the lens of Trumps appointments, Rodriguez would be a favorable shift for progressives but progressive groups have served notice that Biden must aim for a different standard.

That pressure could collide with political reality. With a razor-thin Democratic majority in the Senate, Biden cannot afford to lose the support of a single Democrat for any of his nominees, if Republicans stay unified in opposition. That dynamic could drive nominations toward the center.

Advocacy groups have praised the new administration for announcing it would bypass a review process by the American Bar Association (ABA), the countrys largest legal professional group, on potential judicial nominees.

The ABA review process, used by past administrations, has been criticized on the left as a pipeline for the halls of corporate law to the federal bench. But ABA recommendations have also been rejected on the right as too liberal, and Trump ignored the organization in favor of candidates hand-picked by the conservative Federalist Society.

Biden, for now, has a relatively limited ability to remake the courts. Long gone is the dream of some Democrats to win a decisive Senate majority in the election last November and pass legislation that would add seats to the US supreme court. Instead, Biden must work with the limited number of vacancies he has.

There are 10 vacancies at the circuit court level, counting one active judge who has announced he will semi-retire this summer. That compares with dozens of circuit vacancies Trump found when he came into office, thanks to obstruction of Obama nominees by the then Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell. Trump installed 24 circuit judges in his first two years.

Biden has a tremendous opportunity right off the bat to put on the bench individuals with a demonstrated commitment to equal justice who, as Donald Trump knows long after Joe Biden leaves the White House, the people he puts on the bench will have the ability to make a difference in the lives of the American people, said Goldberg.

As for the supreme court, all eyes are on a potential retirement announcement from the liberal justice Stephen Breyer, 82. Biden has promised to nominate an African American woman, the first in history, to the court as soon as possible. There is already pressure from Democratic lawmakers in Congress for Biden to line up a nominee for the next vacancy.

In the chess game of judicial appointments, the identity of that potential nominee could depend on the confirmation of Bidens attorney general nominee, Merrick Garland.

Garland is a judge on the District of Columbia circuit court, which has jurisdiction over many cases involving the federal government and has traditionally served as a staging ground for future supreme court nominees. His confirmation would create a vacancy on the court.

Widely seen as a potential replacement for Garland is Ketanji Brown Jackson, a district judge in Washington DC.

Jackson was one of the few Black women to be vetted by Obama for a potential supreme court nomination. And as a widely respected judge, a former public defender and working mother, she appears to fit the description of the kind of candidate Biden would be looking for if he has the chance to fill a supreme court seat.

The Biden administration seems to be ready to prioritize judges like never before, said Goldberg. Every signal weve received is that they are moving as expeditiously as possible to identify and nominate and, hopefully, confirm.

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Biden under pressure from progressives as he prepares to pick first judges - The Guardian