Senate Strikes Deal on Judicial Appointments

Clear Facts

• Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a deal allowing President-elect Trump to appoint four appellate court judges.
• The agreement involved Democrats voting on four district court judges in exchange for pulling four circuit court nominees.
• Republicans used procedural maneuvers to delay judicial confirmations, leading to the late-night agreement.

In a significant development, Senate Democrats and Republicans have reached a late-night agreement that will enable President-elect Trump to appoint four pivotal appellate court judges. This deal comes as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attempts to expedite President Biden’s judicial appointments. However, Republicans have been strategically delaying the process through procedural tactics.

The agreement, finalized around midnight, allows Democrats to proceed with votes on four district court judges. In return, they agreed to withdraw four higher-tier circuit court nominees. A senior Senate source informed of this arrangement, which leaves these four vacancies for Trump to fill.

“The Senate has reached a time agreement to invoke cloture on four judicial nominations tonight and have three more votes tomorrow,” Schumer’s office announced late Wednesday.

Key figures in brokering this deal were Senators Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. Despite the breakthrough, neither Schumer’s office nor Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office provided immediate comments.

This deal was largely driven by a Republican-initiated slowdown, orchestrated by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. Thune, recently elected as the next Republican Senate leader, spearheaded the delay in response to Schumer’s push to stack judicial confirmation votes before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“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,” Thune asserted in a statement.

Republicans have been objecting to Democrats’ unanimous consent requests to file cloture on Biden’s nominees, adding more votes to the schedule and prolonging Senate sessions. Despite the new deal, GOP senators are expected to continue opposing Biden’s district judges.

As Democrats race to confirm as many of Biden’s judicial nominations as possible, they remain behind Trump’s first-term record of 234 confirmed Article III judges. Schumer’s efforts to expedite confirmations during the lame-duck session have drawn criticism from Trump, who urged Republicans to halt judicial confirmations until after Inauguration Day.

“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump stated on social media. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!”

Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, emphasized Trump’s commitment to appointing judges who “interpret the law as written,” echoing his first-term judicial strategy.

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