Democrats hope to strike a deal with Republicans to confirm a package of judicial nominees after the election amid a narrow window to clear a backlog of President Joe Biden’s picks.
Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told Bloomberg Law on Wednesday that Democrats “offered that to the Republicans during the Trump administration, and I hope they’ll offer us the same.” Republicans controlled the Senate all four years of Donald Trump’s term.
Agreement on packages of judicial nominees were more common before the confirmation process became more partisan during the Trump and Biden eras.
The strategy is part of a greater effort by Senate Democrats to confirm a slew of nominees by year’s end, including some who’ve garnered strong GOP opposition.
The chamber has confirmed six nominees, including Kevin Ritz for the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, since returning from the August recess.
The Senate will recess at the end of September for the election, leaving five weeks after that for the “lame duck” session. That’s a time when the chamber juggles a myriad of unfinished legislative business such as spending and defense bills.
The 51-49 Democratic majority has complicated confirmation efforts. Most recently, cloture, or a motion to end debate, was withdrawn on Rebecca Pennell’s nomination to the Spokane-based Eastern District of Washington on Tuesday.
A Senate aide familiar with the Pennell decision said the motion was pulled due to concerns about attendance.
Pennell’s nomination follows that of Charnelle Bjelkengren, a Washington-state judge who withdrew from consideration earlier this year following heavy Republican opposition after she was unable to answer questions about the Constitution during her confirmation hearing.
Democrats also pulled a cloture vote on Mustafa Kasubhai’s nomination to the District of Oregon in June due to attendance issues. They’ve yet to reschedule it.
Kasubhai is one of several pending nominees who’ve garnered considerable GOP pushback. Judiciary Republicans questioned Kasubhai during his confirmation hearing on his views on diversity, equity, and inclusion and guidance he created for the use of preferred pronouns and honorifics in his courtroom, and past writings from his years as a law student they’ve deemed as “Marxist.”
Durbin has said that some of the allegations against Kasubhai were “wildly unsubstantiated.”
Three key lawmakers also publicly refuse to support Adeel Mangi’s nomination to the Third Circuit, amid conservative-led allegations that he’s affiliated himself with antisemitic and anti-police groups. The senators include Nevada Democrats Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, and Democrat-turned-Independent Joe Manchin of West Virginia.