Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) top lieutenant expressed a dose of skepticism that Democrats will be able to beat the record number of judges former President Donald Trump appointed during his four years in office.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the majority whip and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday it would take “good fortune” to outpace the 234 judges Senate Republicans confirmed under Trump by the end of the year.
Democrats have kept pace on judicial appointments, a fact Durbin touted in a floor speech minutes earlier. The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s 209th judge on Thursday, in line with the number Senate Republicans had confirmed by this point in Trump’s term.
But Durbin expects Democrats will fall behind by the end of September. They need to match the 16 judges Republicans confirmed in 2020 that month but are on track to fall short.
“He had the cooperation of the Democrats to get it done,” Durbin said of Trump. “I don’t think we’ll get near that number in September. So, we’ll have to have good fortune in the remaining months.”
Democrats have several factors working against them. They only control a 51-49 majority, and one member of their caucus, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), has vowed to oppose any judicial nomination that cannot attract a Republican vote.
The overwhelming majority of nominees receive at least some level of bipartisan support, but election season has complicated Democrats’ ability to move more controversial judicial picks.
In December, Kamala Harris broke the record for the number of tiebreaking votes cast in the Senate as vice president, most of them to approve party-line nominees. But she is largely away from Washington, campaigning for president.
“She’s gonna be pretty busy until November,” Durbin quipped.
Keeping senators in Washington during scheduled breaks is another option. In 2018, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), then the majority leader, canceled the August recess to confirm additional Trump judges.
But Democratic leadership, facing an unfavorable map this year, will be reluctant to keep vulnerable incumbents from returning to their home states to campaign.
Judicial appointments will go down as one of the crowning achievements of Biden’s term. Democrats have diversified the federal bench, including the confirmation of a record number of black women to the circuit courts.
Still, Schumer has his eye on beating Trump’s top-line record. He spoke with Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, last Friday to discuss how to accelerate the pace of appointments, according to Axios.
Asked how Democrats can get to Trump’s 234, Durbin did not want to speak for Schumer. But he predicted a flurry of activity after Election Day.
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Of the 241 picks Biden has nominated in total, 17 are waiting for a floor vote, according to a spokesperson for a senior Democratic member, while nine are waiting for a hearing in Durbin’s Judiciary Committee, and six are awaiting a committee vote.
“We’re gonna be coming back with that as a priority,” Durbin said.
