Senate Democrats gifted Donald Trump four seats on the circuit court in exchange for expediting 11 vacancies at district courts. This could be considered a historical moment in American politics. Senate Republicans stalled confirmation hearings to the point that the Democrat Leadership cried “Uncle.”
The Washington Examiner reported that “the reality was, we were seriously unsure if we had the votes to confirm these four nominees. We had to weigh the possibility of a record number of district court judges with this possibility.”
Controversy has surrounded the last-minute rush to confirm judges before the change of administration.
Despite their success, the GOP was not certain how long it could continue to fight a delaying measure. The Democrats also didn’t wish to finish the session with many nominations pending. The GOP had difficulty assembling a bloc of 50 votes as JD Rubio and Marco Rubio had been busy preparing to take on new roles in the Trump Administration.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, “The fatigue factor is a way to manage the floor.” If everyone was exhausted, they would be looking for ways of reaching a negotiated result. “That’s exactly what happened.”
The deal was negotiated by Senator Mike Lee (R Utah) and Eric Schmitt, both Republicans from Missouri. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, represented the Democrats.
The four appellate court nominees who will expire in the new Congress include Ryan Park of North Carolina for the 4th Circuit, Julia Lipez of Maine for the 1st Circuit, Karla Campbell of Tennessee for the 6th Circuit, and Adeel Mnagi of New Jersey for the 3rd Circuit.
Some of the nominations, such as that of Ryan Park seemed to have been dead already
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved the nomination of one final choice of Democratic President Joe Biden to serve as a Federal Appeal Court Judge over the objections raised by Republican Senator Thom Tillis. Tillis warned that he may have secured enough votes to prevent the nominee’s confirmation.
The President will fill these positions.
Positively, both sides were able to act as adults. The Republicans got four judges for the circuit court, while the Democrats received 11 district court nominees.
