Trump Judicial Nominees: Senate Plans Post-Election Blitz

The trump judicial nominees pipeline could get a fast track after the midterms, as Senate Republicans lay plans to confirm as many of President Donald Trump’s judges as possible in the weeks after the November 3 elections — before a new Congress is sworn in.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley plans to hold two nomination hearings during the Senate’s two-week November session, according to a person familiar with the process who spoke Thursday. That breaks the committee’s traditional pattern of holding only one such hearing every two weeks.

Two Hearings, One Week Apart

Six nominees are awaiting a hearing and could appear before the panel on November 10. Trump could also announce additional nominees in time for a second session on November 18. The back-to-back hearings would let the committee advance the nominees to the full Senate for floor votes in December, during the final weeks of the current Congress.

The plan was first reported by Punchbowl News.

Democrats Object to the Precedent

The hearings were scheduled over the objections of the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who warned in a statement that the move “departs from longstanding committee practice and establishes a new precedent that will allow Democrats to process nominees more quickly in a future Democratic administration.”

Republicans hold the Senate 53-47, but analysts and opinion polls point to potential significant Democratic gains amid low presidential approval ratings, voter concern over high prices, and dissatisfaction with the Iran war.

Source: Reuters