This is some great news. Joe Biden is asking Democratic senators to recommend judicial candidates who have served as public defenders and civil rights lawyers. It's time to get that kind of new blood into the judiciary. Via The Hill:

Dana Remus, Biden's pick to serve as White House counsel when he takes office next month, sent a letter to Democratic senators this month soliciting their input on district court seats in their states, saying that the new administration would be emphasizing nominees who are demographically diverse and don't have the corporate law or prosecutor pedigree that is typical of a federal judge.

"With respect to U.S. District Court positions, we are particularly focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench, including those who are public defenders, civil rights and legal aid attorneys, and those who represent Americans in every walk of life," Remus wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Hill.

[...] Recent presidents of both parties have filled the judiciary with former prosecutors, lawyers who primarily come from prestigious law firms specializing in representing big corporations or some combination of the two.

The Center for American Progress published a study in August that found that 65 percent of circuit court judges, who sit just below the Supreme Court, spent the majority of their legal careers in private practice, usually at major law firms. Only three had spent their careers as public defenders, and just one was a nonprofit lawyer, according to the study.