The Senate could approve President Joe Biden’s 200th federal judge next week, a pace that outstrips former President Donald Trump’s appointments at this point in his term.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has moved 197 judges across the Senate floor and on Monday will confirm Biden’s 198th: Seth Robert Aframe, an appeals court nominee for the First Circuit.
Schumer filed cloture on two others, for district court seats in Arizona, before the Senate left on Thursday, meaning they will in all likelihood be approved next week. Each received bipartisan support in the Judiciary Committee last month.
The milestone would represent a break-neck pace for the president. At this point in his presidency, Barack Obama had confirmed 147, while Biden eclipsed Trump’s 193 in April.
Democrats are locked out of a Supreme Court majority for the foreseeable future. But Biden, in partnership with a Democratic majority in the Senate, has remade the courts in more subtle ways.
The president has emphasized appointing female and minority judges to the federal bench.
The absence of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), in Manhattan for the second corruption trial of his career, complicates Schumer’s ability to move judges, as does a so-called “pocket veto” from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has pledged not to support any nominee who cannot attract bipartisan support.
In a chamber Schumer controls by a single vote, each is needed for more controversial judges. There are four circuit court nominees who cleared the Judiciary Committee without a single GOP vote, while seven district court nominees approved along party lines are ready for floor action.
The overwhelming majority of Biden’s judges have received some level of bipartisan support. Many were approved by voice vote, while others attracted a handful of crossover votes from centrist Republicans.
On Tuesday, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were the only Republicans to support a procedural vote on Aframe’s nomination.
But Biden has received more attention for the controversial nominees he has put forward, some of whom lack Democratic support.
Michael Delaney, scrutinized for his handling of a sexual assault lawsuit, was forced to withdraw his appeals court nomination, while one current nominee, Adeel Mangi, is opposed by at least three Democrats over his association to an “anti-police” group.
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The elimination of the judicial filibuster is one reason for the pace of appointments. Democratic leader Harry Reid went “nuclear” to allow swift confirmation of lower court nominees in 2013, while Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did the same for Supreme Court appointments several years later.
Another is senators’ inability to prevent nominees in their home state from moving forward, as they were able to do using blue slips until 2017.
