Sen. Dick Durbin pushing through historic diversity on federal bench

WASHINGTON — With Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wielding the gavel as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Joe Biden outpaced Donald Trump and Barack Obama in confirming federal judges at the midpoint of their respective terms. The new judges are part of a historic transformation of the federal bench in terms of race, gender, ethnicity and experience, including in federal courtrooms in Chicago. Until Biden, most federal judges were white males, with the door closed to almost all other lawyers. “I’m pretty proud of what we’ve been able to...