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By Aila Slisco
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President-elect Donald Trump is demanding that Republican senators "hold the line" by attempting to block the confirmation of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees before he takes over on January 20.
Democrats have been racing to confirm Biden's final federal judges to lifetime appointments since Trump was elected to a second term earlier this month. While Republicans will not be in control of the chamber until January and do not currently have the votes to stop the nominees from being confirmed, they can slow the process by forcing procedural votes.
Trump has expressed outrage over judges getting confirmed before his arrival, writing in a Truth Social post on November 10 that Democrats being "allowed to ram through" Biden's nominees was "not acceptable." He lashed out again in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, demanding that Republicans allow "no more" judge confirmations before his inauguration.
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"The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door," Trump wrote. "Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!"
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Newsweek reached out for comment to the offices of Trump, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell via email on Tuesday.
Democrats cooperated with Republicans to confirm a slate of Trump's judicial nominees after he lost the 2020 election to Biden. Senator John Thune—who is set to take over GOP leadership from McConnell and become the Senate majority leader in January—said at the time that he had been "upset" by a previous partisan "blockade" of judicial appointments.
While Senate Republicans are likely powerless to stop Biden's nominees from being confirmed before January if Democrats remain united, on Monday night they forced a series of lengthy procedural votes to slow the process as much as possible.
"If Senator 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," Thune told ABC News.
Democrats still managed to confirm Judge Embry Kidd's lifetime appointment to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, prompting Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to rage on social media about "the leftist judge" getting the job.
On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed long-delayed Biden nominee Judge Mustafa Kasubhai to a lifetime appointment on the U.S. District Court for Oregon, while confirmation votes on several additional nominees are expected throughout the week.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin told reporters that Democrats may force sessions on the weekends and during holiday breaks to get as many of Biden's nominees confirmed as possible, while adding that he hoped "the Republicans will at least be as cooperative with us as we were with them," according to The Hill.
"Voting on the president's judicial nominees is a core function of the Senate," Schumer said during a Senate floor speech on Tuesday. "It's one of our basic responsibilities and we're going to carry out that responsibility as long as this majority continues."
"We're not done," he added. "There are more judges to consider and confirm. We're going to spend the rest of this week and the rest of this year focused on confirming them."
Update 11/19/24, 4:52 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information and context.
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