Liberals are pressing Senate Democrats to confirm more Biden judges while they still can

Dan Merica
| Associated Press

washington — Demand Justice, a progressive organization focused on the judiciary, is preparing to bombard Capitol Hill in the closing weeks of the 118th Congress with a message: “Do whatever it takes” to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees as Donald Trump’s second presidency looms.

The Republican president-elect’s victory and the GOP takeover of the Senate left Democratic control of the chamber just seven weeks away.

Democrats have confirmed 213 of their judicial nominees during Biden’s presidency. Several dozen more are still pending. In addition to those confirmations, Senate Democrats will need to stay in Washington much longer than they planned while also overcoming a razor-thin margin that has at times hampered them on Biden’s other priorities.

Trump focused heavily on filling court vacancies in his first term, securing the confirmation of 234 judges, including three members of the Supreme Court. As the party charts its path forward after a major defeat that would knock it out of power in January, Democrats are trying to block it from being given more opportunities to appoint conservative judges.

“Senate Democrats can’t just give up and go home just because they lost the chamber,” said Skye Perryman, a senior adviser to Demand Justice, which will include widespread lobbying, Capitol Hill events and targeted advertising. “It is now even more critical that good, qualified, fair-minded judges be confirmed so that ordinary people can defend their rights and protect our Constitution.”

According to the United States Courts website, there are 17 judicial nominees pending from the Senate Judiciary Committee, with eight awaiting a vote from the committee and six awaiting committee hearings. The White House announced new judicial nominees in October and November.

The Senate returned from its election break this week. According to the Senate calendar, the legislature is out of town for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. But the schedule can change, and it’s common for senators to leave Washington for long weekends.

This pressure will also come against the Senate’s already full schedule. In addition to the approvals, the legislature will be tasked with providing more disaster relief after a series of deadly storms, passing the annual defense policy bill and keeping the government funded and open.

Democratic senators such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both independents, are leaving the chamber at the end of this session. If Republicans unite to oppose Biden’s pick, Manchin narrowed the Democratic lead by saying he would not support non-bipartisan judicial appointments.

One candidate, April Perry, was confirmed for Illinois’ northern district Monday evening.

“We’re going to make sure that as much as we can is done,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said when asked about his effort to pressure Senate Democrats to do what they can to confirm these nominees.

Trump on Sunday urged Republicans to oppose Schumer’s efforts. “No Judge should be confirmed during this time because Democrats want to attack their own Judge while Republicans fight for Leadership,” he wrote.

“Delaying the confirmation of well-qualified, experienced judges creates a real-life burden on voters and leads to a backlog of criminal cases, which means there is every pressing reason for Republicans and Democrats to continue working together in good faith to staff the federal bench.” .” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the following in response to Trump. “There is no excuse for choosing partisanship over enforcing the rule of law.”

Senator Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he hoped Republicans would not try to delay confirmation votes for judges, noting that Democrats had agreed to a package of 12 judicial confirmations at the end of Trump’s first presidency.

“I hope they follow precedent,” Durbin said.

He added that he hopes to see about two dozen judicial nominees confirmed during the lame duck session.

“That’s pretty much all we can do,” he added.

Demand Justice’s Perryman echoed that sentiment. “There is no excuse for not putting these qualified individuals on the floor to vote. Americans across the country are working overtime to make ends meet, and the Senate should be working overtime too: Americans deserve better than excuses or delays from elected officials,” Perryman added.

The group’s plan includes widespread lobbying of key senators, press events calling for action and a new website that gives voters a chance to see where the effort stands, according to officials working with Demand Justice.

“With the new Congress just weeks away, it is more urgent than ever for Democratic senators to do whatever it takes — staying late, working weekends,” said Maggie Jo Buchanan, a senior official at the progressive organization.

In a series of post-election posts reflecting Trump’s victory, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts urged Schumer to “use every minute of the year-end legislative session to confirm federal judges and key regulators, none of whom could be removed by the next President.”

Groups such as the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have echoed this focus.

“With the Senate returning to Washington and with limited time remaining, it is critical that our senators vote immediately on all of President Biden’s judicial nominees,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program and advisor to The Leadership Conference. Civil and Human Rights.

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

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