U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to push through as many judicial appointments as possible before Democrats take control of the Senate is meeting resistance from members of his own party. Republican senators are blocking or questioning three nominations linked to their states, Reuters reports.
So far, the Republican majority has confirmed 57 of Trump's nominees for lifetime positions on federal district and appeals courts during his second term. However, 23 nominations remain in the Senate, while Majority Leader John Thune has designated judicial appointments as a priority until the end of Republican control of the chamber.
Appeals court nomination withdrawn
The White House withdrew the nomination of Arkansas federal judge Lee Rudofsky to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit after Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton opposed the choice. He was replaced by Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Jay Cody Hiland.
The case demonstrated the influence senators have over the selection of federal judges from their states. North Carolina's Thom Tillis said the White House sometimes approaches senators with the attitude: “This is our guy; I hope you will support him.” However, he said, “that is not how the Senate works.”
“I am not making a judgment about the nominee's qualifications. I am challenging the way the selection was made,” Tillis told the Associated Press.Disputes over nominations in Texas and Oklahoma
Texas Senator John Cornyn has not committed to supporting T. Elliot Gaiser for a federal judgeship in Dallas. Gaiser heads the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, and Senator Ted Cruz's team approached him about the nomination on November 4, the day after the midterm elections.
Cornyn said Gaiser had not gone through the usual bipartisan process for evaluating candidates in Texas. He also noted Gaiser's ties to efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Without Cornyn's support, Gaiser cannot appear at a hearing before the Judiciary Committee scheduled for Wednesday.
In Oklahoma, Senator Alan Armstrong initially supported the nomination of Zach West, but later withdrew his support. Tillis backed his position, leaving West without enough votes to pass the committee at the next vote on Tuesday.
Armstrong is leaving the Senate on November 30 and will be replaced by Republican Kevin Hern. Tillis said he would continue to block the nomination for now.
Final push before the change in the majority
The White House said it expects all judicial nominations before the Senate to be confirmed by the end of the year. The first vote under the current expedited procedure is scheduled for Monday on the nomination of Daniel Domenico to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Trump appointed 234 federal judges during his first term, including three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to Reuters, about one-third of sitting federal judges have now been appointed by him. Republicans are trying to expand that influence before the new Democratic majority takes office in the Senate, but resistance from senators in their own party is calling the pace of the process into question.
Sources: reuters.com, thestar.com.my, apnews.com