Topline
Some Republican senators are urging their GOP colleagues to slow down confirmation of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees after the upper chamber approved his 100th pick for a federal judgeship on Tuesday, marking a key milestone that outpaces former President Donald Trump’s judicial nomination record at this point in his term.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Key Facts
Several GOP members said Democrats were aided by some Republicans who have voted to approve Biden’s judicial nominees, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee who was one of four Republicans and the only GOP Judiciary Committee member to approve Biden’s 100th nominee, Gina Méndez-Miró, for district judge in Puerto Rico on Tuesday.
Judiciary Committee member Mike Lee (R-Utah) suggested that Republicans could be “needlessly accelerating the pace” of confirmations, he told The Hill, while committee member Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told the outlet Republicans did not make a strong enough effort to push back on Biden’s judicial nominations when the party held more leverage in the previous session of Congress under a split Senate.
Graham, who had voted to approve more Biden nominees than any other committee member by the end of last year, according to The New York Times, has repeatedly said he believes the president and majority party are entitled to a certain level of discretion when it comes to selecting federal judges, telling The Hill this week: “They got the votes. Elections matter.”
Graham was the sole Republican on the Judiciary Committee to vote for 12 of Biden’s judicial nominees earlier this month, sparking criticism from the conservative advocacy group, the Judicial Crisis Network: “I hope . . . this is not a preview of what we can expect from Graham as a ranking member for the next two years,” its president, Carrie Severino, tweeted.
Severino re-upped her criticism of Graham in a new series of tweets this week after he reportedly expressed openness to appointing former New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney to the the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where members grilled Delaney about his representation of a boarding school that was sued in connection with a sexual assault case.
Big Number
234. That’s the total number of federal judges confirmed by the Senate during Trump’s tenure, more than any other president since Jimmy Carter. Trump reached the 100-judge milestone in May of his third year in office.
Key Background
Democrats have vowed to shift the scales of power in the federal courts after Trump successfully appointed hundreds of conservative judges, including three on the Supreme Court that left the nine-member body with just three liberal-leaning justices. Following the midterm election, when Democrats gained one additional seat in the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed to continue what he called a “historic pace of judicial confirmations” intended to “ensure the federal bench better reflects the diversity of America,” he told NBC. By the end of last year, the Senate had confirmed 97 Biden judges, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the high court. After Trump’s first two years in office, the Senate had confirmed 83 judges. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) credited his Republican colleagues for helping Biden outpace Trump, telling the New York Times in December, “We had three or four Republicans who were really open-minded,” while specifically mentioning Graham. In addition to Graham, GOP Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Charles Grassley (Iowa), John Cornyn (Tex.) and John Kennedy (La.) have voted more than two dozen times each for Biden judicial nominees, according to the Times.
What To Watch For
Whether Democrats will continue allowing senators to veto judicial nominees in their home states via what’s known as a “blue slip,” a procedure that threatens Biden’s ability to surpass Trump’s record. In order to confirm more than 234 judges during Biden’s tenure, the Senate would need to approve a district court judge in at least one GOP-represented state, according to the Times.
Further Reading
Senate Confirms President Joe Biden’s 100th Judicial Nomination—Outpacing Trump (Forbes)
Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn In As Supreme Court Justice — First Black Woman In The Court’s History (Forbes)
Biden Names More Diverse Judges To Federal Bench As Senate Scrutinizes Others (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/02/17/lindsey-graham-helps-biden-outpace-trumps-judicial-nominees-and-some-republicans-pushing-for-a-slow-down/