1 day Ago By Jack Phillips
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Senate Republicans to halt President Joe Biden’s final judicial nominees before Inauguration Day next year. On Jan. 3, Democrats will lose their slim Senate majority, while Trump is slated to take office on Jan.
20. Republicans were able to flip three Senate seats during the November election and are forecast to have a 3-seat advantage. Trump’s comment followed the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Embry Kidd to be part of the U.
S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Kidd was one of five nominees to the 13 intermediate appeals courts who were awaiting Senate consideration at the time of the Nov.
5 election. Biden has 28 announced nominees to the trial and appellate courts pending. “If Sen.
Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” the senator said. Days after the election, Trump similarly demanded that “no judges should be approved” during the lame-duck congressional session. Around the same time, the president-elect called on the Senate Republican leader to allow for recess appointments of his Cabinet picks.
Thune has not ruled it out, telling Fox News on Nov. 14 that “all options are on the table, including recess appointments.” The U.
S. Constitution says the president can make recess appointments to fill vacant positions when the Senate is not in session. Past presidents have taken advantage of this clause.
Former President Barack Obama made 32 recess appointments, while former President George W. Bush made 171, according to the Congressional Research Service..
