Right before Donald Trump is set to start his second presidency, Senate Democrats have come to a deal with Republicans to confirm a dozen judges nominated by President Joe Biden. This is partially interesting because several Republicans assisting with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
However, four of Biden’s nominees were pulled from consideration. The four appeals court nominees pending in the Senate include: Ryan Young Park, Julia M. Lipez, Karla M. Campbell and Adeel A. Mangi. Mangi would have been the America’s first Muslim American appeals court judge.
However, he has faced opposition from Republicans and some Democrats over his connections to numerous groups, which includes a criminal justice organization that advocates for people who are imprisoned and a law school center for Muslim and Arab Americans.
CNN reported that earlier this month, Trump encouraged Senate Republicans to refuse any judicial confirmations in Biden’s final week while the upper chamber was under Democratic control. Republicans have not been able to block the nominees outright when members of their caucus are absent.
Trump’s Vice President-elect, JD Vance, called Grace Chong—CFO of Steve Bannon’s podcast organization—a “mouth breathing imbecile” when she alerted him about Republicans not showing up.
“When this 11th Circuit vote happened, I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including FBI Director,” Vance said, implying that FBI Director Christopher Wray may be replaced.
This is just the latest development to determine who controls the country’s federal courthouses. Lawmakers are also dealing with resistance against a bill that would increase the number of federal judges across the nation, as several Democrats don’t want Trump to assign more judgeships.
The bill, which is called the Judges Act, passed unanimously in the Senate over the summer. It was stalled last week in the House as lawmakers took a break for the Thanksgiving recess. The bill would create 66 judgeships across the country over a decade.
According to the Washington Post, the chief judge of the Southern District of New York requested for lawmakers to move swiftly since judges are needed to deal with the rising growing caseload in federal courts.
“The Southern District of New York, like most federal courts across the country, is feeling the strain of the federal judgeship shortage,” Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain explained in a statement.
“Passing the Judges Act, which would add two much-needed judgeships to our district and provide much-needed relief to additional districts across the country over a period of several years, is essential to ensuring timely access to justice and preserving public trust in our federal courts.”
Dems have been working diligently to confirm as many judges as they can before Trump takes office. Trump managed to appoint 237 federal judges during his first term, making the federal judiciary conservative.
Biden has tried to match this and selected mostly liberal judges for the federal bench who are more diverse than past picks.