President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are expected to score a big win this week. If all goes to plan, they’ll get their 235th judge on the federal bench, one more than President-elect Donald Trump seated in his first term. But the story is bigger than the total number of judges earning lifetime appointments under Biden. The president is also set to appoint a record number of Black judges, and more than half of his appointments have been people of color and women — both firsts for a sitting president. Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, talks about the significance of Biden's judicial record.

And in headlines: ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought Trump, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly recovering from hip replacement surgery after falling down a flight of stairs, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has officially made contact with the Islamist rebel group that has seized control of Syria.

Show Notes:

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