U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has named Merrick Garland, left, as U.S. Attorney General. In 2016, President Obama had nominated Garland to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia, but the Senate majority refused to hold a hearing or vote on this nomination made during the last year of Obama’s presidency.

Also significant in the wake of the 2020 election cycle, Charles (Chuck) Schumer, right, Senate minority leader since 2017, will become the majority leader, succeeding Mitch McConnell, who lost his position when two seats flipped to Democrats in the Senatorial runoff contest in Georgia. The addition of the two Democrats — Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — gives each party 50 votes, with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is President of the Senate, able to cast the deciding vote for the Democrats.

Other prominent Jews named to the Biden-Harris administration include Antony Blinken, secretary of state; Ron Klain, White House chief of staff; Janet L. Yellen, treasury secretary; Alejandro N. Mayorkas, secretary of homeland security; and Avril Danica Haines, director of national intelligence. Recently added, David Cohen, deputy director CIA; Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health; and Dana Stroul, Mideast desk at the Pentagon.