President-elect Donald Trump urged GOP senators this week to thwart President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees during a lame-duck blitz before the end of the year, although Republicans do not have the power to outright stop the process.
The Senate, which remains under control of the Democrats until the next session begins in early January, is pressing ahead with confirming federal judges. As of Monday evening, the upper chamber had approved 216 judges with plans to keep going. Trump had 234 picks sent to federal benches by the end of his first term.
“Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!”
Republicans have already begun to slow the process of confirming judges by forcing roll call votes rather than allowing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to use voice votes that would streamline the process.
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), who was recently elected to be the next Republican Senate leader in the new Congress, told Fox News.
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However, Republicans simply do not have the numbers — more specifically, the majority — to completely block the Democrats from ultimately confirming Biden’s judges. As it stands, the 47 Democrats and the independents who caucus with them outnumber the 49 Republican members.
There have been some absences on both sides of the aisle, plus Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) has shown a willingness to break ranks, but in the end, it would take more than GOP members showing up to create a successful blockade.
“To be clear, with full attendance Republicans cannot block these nominees,” Semafor congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett said in a post to X. “Even if Manchin defects, Dems can confirm with [Vice President Kamala Harris] tiebreak. And Vance would probably need to be here. Still they can make it harder for Dems, as they did last night.”
