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ArcticStones's avatar

JUDGES: Majority Leader is finally trying to pick up the pace on Senate confirmation of Biden’s judicial nominations. Yesterday alone, Schumer filed cloture on eight judges, which I believe is a new record for him. (I don’t understand why he wasn’t doing this far earlier.) As expected, Republicans were hitting the brakes, last night demanding roll-call votes on simple things such as moving back and forth between legislative and executive session – something that otherwise invariably gets done through unanimous consent.

EDIT: Today, just now, Republicans wasted more time by walking out and denying the Senate a quorum on the floor.

Elections have consequences. As of last Thursday, 14 November, there were 65 judicial vacancies. Any vacancies that Biden, Schumer and Durbin fail to fill, will be filled by Trump.

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Paleo's avatar

And don't forget Lauren McFerran's renomination as head of the NLRB.

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Kevin H.'s avatar

You think republicans will respect blue slips?

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ArcticStones's avatar

Me? No, I think there will be a massive power-grab to accommodate Trump and his autocratic impatience, and that the GOP will blow up a lot of written and unwritten Senate and House rules. But Blue Slips is not the only thing slowing down Biden’s nominations, although it does get the most focus...

As of last Thursday: "There are now 29 pending [judicial] nominees: 17 waiting for floor votes, 6 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 6 waiting for hearings."

https://www.acslaw.org/on-the-bench-week-of-november-14/

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JanusIanitos's avatar

I fear this is likely to be right.

But... Republicans have shown an ability to play the long game on a lot of these rules, especially with more establishment leadership in the senate. Which accurately describes Thune.

Much like the filibuster, the survival of blue slips depends heavily their recognition of how much that rule benefits them more than it benefits us. Do republican senators want to deal with a future dem president putting liberal district judges in their far right states that have had a consistently conservative district judge system for generations?

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Kevin H.'s avatar

Unless they feel like we can't win back the senate anytime soon considering were pretty much out of red state senators.

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JanusIanitos's avatar

Very well could be their calculus. We will see.

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Toiler On the Sea's avatar

Would be a very risky move on their part.

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Tim Nguyen's avatar

I'm guessing this is an overestimation on their part. Democrats not only managed to win in 3 red senate seats in 2018, but also West Virginia of all places no less. There's also the fact that 2026 will likely be a midterm referendum election year and Trump won't be on the ballot to bail their sorry butts. Granted the elections will now be vs incumbents and open in cases like Ohio, and perhaps even Iowa if Grassley falls ill, but we'll have to see.

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Andrew's avatar

Winning WV, OH and MT in 2018 doesn’t seem like much of an argument considering what happened to them in 2024.

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Tim Nguyen's avatar

You're forgetting the major caveat - Trump was on the ballot in 2024. Also it was a presidential election year. 2026 is a midterm and we don't know how GOP turnout will fare with Trump no longer on future ballots for presidential years.

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Andrew's avatar

The filibuster and blue slips are so different, though. The GOP will always want to elect their judges but do they need to bypass a filibuster? For their agenda, no. They have reconciliation and they can accomplish much of their work through that.

McConnell, and other GOP Senators are well aware that if they get rid of the filibuster, the floodgates are open and if the Dems get a trifecta, we’re doing all the things. The joint impediments are far lesser in their case because they don’t care to do much in the first place.

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