President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a warning to Senate Republicans about making deals with Democrats on the last batch of President Biden’s judicial nominees.
“To all Senate Republicans: NO DEAL WITH DEMOCRATS TO FAST TRACK NOMINATIONS AT THE END OF THIS CONGRESS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I won the biggest mandate in 129 years. I will make my appointments of Very Qualified People in January when I am sworn in.”
In past years, Senate Democrats and Republicans have approved blocs of left-over nominees before wrapping up the end of a legislative session, but the practice has fallen off recently as these deals are coming under greater scrutiny.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) cut a deal with Republicans before Thanksgiving to fast-track the approval of nine federal district court judges. But in a concession to Republicans, he agreed to shelve four of Biden’s circuit-court nominees, who Democrats later said likely wouldn’t have had enough votes to win confirmation.
The Senate so far has confirmed 233 of Biden’s judicial nominees, the same number of such nominees it confirmed during Trump’s first term. (The Hill)
As Axios noted on Tuesday, “Schumer’s final confirmations are the Democratic Party’s final shot at confirming their own nominees for at least four years.” In the lame duck session alone, the New York Democrat moved 20 judicial nominees through the upper chamber. Schumer plans to confirm two lifetime appointment judges this week, according to the report, meaning he will surpass GOP leader Mitch McConnell’s record on confirming judges during Trump’s first term.
