Trump on track for new record on judges
Senate GOP to confirm three more appeals court judges this week
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are set to confirm three more of President Donald Trump’s appeals court picks this week, a push that will help set a record for the most such appointments in a president’s first year in office.
The Senate is expected to confirm Steve Grasz for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, and James Ho and Don Willett for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, over the objections of Democrats who question whether they can be unbiased.
That would mean at least a dozen Trump appointees would join the nation’s appeals courts — which have the last word in all but the 100 or so cases that the Supreme Court decides each year — in his first year in the White House. That comes in a year the Senate also confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in April.
Compare that to Barack Obama, who successfully appointed three appeals court judges in his first year in office in 2009, as well as Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Obama followed up with 13 appeals court appointments in his second year in 2010. Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy successfully appointed 11 appeals court judges in their first year in the White House.
“Each of these nominees will make strong additions to the federal bench and I look forward to considering them in the coming days,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday.
There are currently 17 vacancies on the nation’s 13 appeals courts, with seven nominees pending, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
The pace over the past two months has been deliberate and fast compared to the recent past. This week is the second that McConnell, amid pressure from outside conservative groups, dedicated an entire week of floor time to a series of votes to overcome Democratic filibusters on the nominees.
Both times, the Kentucky Republican set up the floor action within a day of the Judiciary Committee approving the judges, leaping them ahead of district court judges already awaiting Senate floor action. The Senate confirmed four appeals court picks the week starting Oct. 31, and Democrats cannot stop the confirmation of this week’s nominees without votes from Republicans.