Senate GOP breaks record on confirming Trump picks for key court (
again - year two)
By Jordain Carney - 07/18/18 06:41 PM EDT
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-actio...-for-key-court
Senate Republicans broke a record on Wednesday for the number of
appeals court judges confirmed during a president's
first two years.
Senators voted 50-49 on Andrew Oldham's nomination to be a judge on the 5th Circuit, making him
Trump's 23rd circuit court judge confirmed since he took office last year.
That breaks the previous record set by President George H.W. Bush, who got 22 appeals court judges confirmed during his administration's first two years.
"The Senate continues to confirm impressive nominees whom President Trump has asked to serve our country," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday. "[Oldham] comes highly recommended by colleagues and peers from across the spectrum."
Republicans have rushed to confirm
Trump's nominees for the
key bench, letting the party
shape the direction of the U.S. court system for decades.
"I think of the things that we've been able to do with this Republican government the last year and a half, the single most long-lasting, positive impact we'll be able to have on the country is the judiciary," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky late last week.
Democrats and allied outside groups have blasted Republicans' steady pace of confirming Trump's circuit court nominees. ...
...But Democrats are essentially powerless to stop Trump's judicial picks unless they can win GOP support.
In 2013, Senate Democrats, led by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), nixed the 60-vote filibuster for district and circuit court nominations. Republicans,
in turn, nixed the same hurdle for Supreme Court nominations last year. ...
...Republicans previously broke the record last year for number of appeals judges confirmed
during a president's first year. But they haven't moved as quickly on lower-level district judges,
whose rulings can be overturned by circuit court judges.
A Washington Post analysis found that,
when combined with votes on lower-level district judges, Trump was
lagging behind other recent administration,
except Obama, in
total number of judges confirmed as of the end of May.