Under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, President Trump's well qualified judicial nominees are slowly, but surely, getting confirmed despite obstructionist Senate Democrats. In this post, we wanted to provide a brief recap of the current judicial landscape.
According to Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, as of today (May 16, 2018):
- There are 147 federal judicial vacancies out of 890 authorized federal judgeships.
- These vacancies include 15 circuit court vacancies and 124 district court vacancies.
- Of them, 72, or nearly half, are deemed "judicial emergencies."
So far, during the Trump Administration:
- The White House has 73 judicial nominations currently pending at various stages in the Senate.
- Since President Trump has taken office, the Senate has confirmed: 1 Supreme Court justice, 21 circuit court judges, and17 district judges (note: link is missing the two most recent circuit court judge confirmation from earlier this week (Carson &Nalbandian).
In the Senate, currently:
- Per Ed Whelan in National Review: 1 circuit judicial nominee is pending on the Senate floor, 2 nominees are waiting to be reported out of committee, and 7 are awaiting a confirmation hearing.
- As for district court nominees: 32 nominees are pending on the Senate floor and 40 nominees are pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats' obstruction tactics have slowed the process:
- On average, it has taken 84 days to confirm a Trump nominee (both judicial and executive positions); which is longer than it did under Obama, G.W. Bush, Clinton, or G.H.W. Bush, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
- Senate Democrats are using Senate procedures to delay confirmation votes, routinely forcing cloture votes and 30-hour post-cloture debate time. At this rate, it would take President Trump more than 9 years to confirm all his nominees.
The RNLA will continue to regularly highlight and keep our members posted on developments in the Senate related to judicial nominations and confirmations.