US President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, the United States, on November 14, 2024.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday urged fellow Senate Republicans to block Democrats from confirming President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
“Democrats are trying to pack the courts with radical left-wing judges,” Trump wrote in a statement. truth society posts.
“Republican senators need to show up and stand their ground—no more judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” he wrote.
Democrats will lose their slim majority in the Senate on January 3.
The Senate has confirmed 216 members of the federal judiciary nominated by Biden. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit confirmed its latest appointee, Judge Embry Kidd.
Biden has proposed a total of 261 judicial nominees, the white house stated His selection for the 56th round was announced in a Nov. 8 press release.
There are currently 45 Total number of job vacancies In the federal judiciary. That’s less than half of what it was when Trump took office in 2017.
Trump appointed 227 judges during his first term. Biden is expected to surpass that number, with about two dozen nominees currently awaiting final confirmation or awaiting approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With the clock ticking, Democrats are working overtime to seat Biden on the bench.
New York State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said senate floor On Tuesday morning, he had taken steps to confirm 12 more judges since the weekend.
“We’re not done yet. There are more judges to consider and confirm. We will spend the rest of this week and the rest of the year focusing on confirming them,” Schumer said.
Republicans may be able to slow down Democratic efforts. They caused hours of delays Monday night by forcing lengthy roll call votes on minor procedural motions that usually take only a fraction of the time.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said abc news He will continue to bog down the nomination process.
“If Senator Schumer thinks Senate Republicans will roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime positions in the final weeks of the Democratic majority, he is mistaken,” Thune told ABC.
Some Democrats say they are ready for a fight.
“I was on the Senate floor last night voting until midnight to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominees,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote on X.
“We will continue to do so until time runs out to confirm as many qualified judges as possible and defend the values of the people who elected us,” Murray wrote.
Trump has previously demanded that “no judges should be confirmed” during the lame duck session.
“As Republicans fight for leadership, Democrats are looking to storm their judges. This is unacceptable,” Trump wrote He was interviewed on “Truth Social” on Nov. 10, less than a week after he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election.
At least two moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, dismissed the order. vote confirmation Some of Biden’s judicial choices.
But Trump has taken notice among many conservatives, who have harshly criticized Senate Republicans on social media for their inaction on Democratic efforts to confirm judges. They include right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich, conservative attorney Mike Davis and Grace Chung, who works for Trump ally Steve Bannon’s show “The War Room.”
Chong tagged the senator Tuesday morning. JD Vance Trump’s vice president-elect and Ohio governor urged Republicans in a since-deleted post to “show up and do your damn job!!”
Vance responded Tuesday afternoon, calling Chung “a mouth-breathing imbecile” and arguing that Biden’s latest nominee would be confirmed regardless of whether he shows up for the vote. Vance later deleted his reply.
“When the 11th Circuit vote occurred, I was meeting with President Trump to interview for multiple positions in our government, including FBI Director,” Vance wrote.
“I tend to think that finding an FBI director who can dismantle the deep state is more important than the Republican defeat in a 49-46 vote rather than a 49-45 vote. But that’s just my opinion,” he wrote.
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