For years, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been crafting his legacy as the Senate leader who played the long game to stack the nations federal courts with conservatives.

But with two years under his belt as Senate majority leader and a strengthened majority heading into the next two years, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is showing that hes playing the long game for confirming Democratic-appointed judges, too.

Schumer has been helping President Joe Biden outpace past presidents with his judicial confirmations. The Senate has confirmed 96 of Bidens lifetime federal judges as of Tuesday. Thats more than Donald Trump (85) and Barack Obama (62) had confirmed by this point in their presidencies. If the Senate tops 100 confirmations by the end of the year, which is Schumers goal, Biden will surpass former President George W. Bush, too.

Perhaps more remarkable is the diversity Bidens already put onto the courts. Of his 96 judges, 75% are women, 68% are people of color, 48% are women of color and 24 are Black women. Thats a huge departure from the nations breathtakingly white, male federal judiciary. His court picks are professionally diverse, too: some are public defenders , voting rights lawyers, and union organizers , in addition to historic firsts with Native Americans , Black women , LGBTQ picks and Muslim Americans .

These judges will forever be categorized as Biden appointees. But Schumer has been instrumental in ushering them all through. He already considers his record of confirming Bidens judges one of his greatest accomplishments as Senate majority leader.

Its way up there, the New York Democrat said in a recent interview with HuffPost in his Senate office. Its No. 2 or 3, if not No. 1.

Schumer has pushed through all of these judges despite significant challenges in the Senate. The chamber has been split 50-50, along party lines, for the entire time hes been in charge. That has meant he hasnt been able to lose a single Democrat when holding confirmation votes. COVID has made it harder to schedule votes. Hes had to take extra procedural steps to force some of Bidens court picks out of the Judiciary Committee, where they were stuck after the panel tied along party lines. In one case, Schumer had to summon Vice President Kamala Harris to the chamber to break a tie to confirm Jennifer Sung, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Many, many, many days were lost because of GOP delays on Bidens court picks, said Schumer, nestled in an armchair by a roaring fire in his office fireplace. Weeks. And I dont mean four-day weeks. I mean, if you put all the hours together, it would be like seven-day weeks, 24 hours a day.

These obstacles will largely go away in January when Democrats hold a 51-49 edge over Republicans. Its only one more seat for Democrats, but it makes a huge difference in how the Senate will operate, particularly when advancing judges. And Schumer has a target for what he wants to accomplish in the new Senate structure.

One of my goals is to achieve balance on every one of the courts of appeals, he said. Weve achieved it in a bunch already, but we have more to go.

Asked if he means his target is to reshape all of the appeals courts with Bidens nominees by the end of his first term, Schumer said, It depends on [judicial] retirements, but yes.