Senate Democrats and Republicans struck a late-night agreement on Wednesday, enabling votes on a group of President Joe Biden’s nominees for federal trial courts while halting efforts to confirm four appellate court nominees. This arrangement leaves those appellate court vacancies for Republican President-elect Donald Trump to fill.
A spokesperson for Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed the deal on Thursday. Senate Republicans had mounted a campaign to stall Democrats’ efforts to confirm as many life-tenured judges as possible before Trump assumes office in January.
Republicans had vowed to block at least two of the four appellate court nominees, including Adeel Mangi, who would have become the first Muslim federal appellate judge if confirmed to the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The agreement frustrated progressive advocates, who have pressed Democrats to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible following the Nov. 5 election, which handed both the presidency and control of the Senate to Republicans. Maggie Jo Buchanan, director of the progressive legal group Demand Justice, criticized the deal, saying, “Willingly gifting Donald Trump the chance to appoint judges more committed to political agendas than the rule of law is doing a dangerous disservice to the American people.”
Since the election, the Senate has confirmed eight of Biden’s judicial nominees, bringing his total to 221. On Thursday, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed one more nominee, Sharad Desai, for a trial court seat in Arizona.
Despite Trump’s urging, Republicans struggled to impose procedural hurdles or peel away votes in the narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate, which holds a 51-49 majority. Several Republican senators missed confirmation votes.
Under the agreement, the Senate will vote on seven district court nominees when it returns from its post-Thanksgiving recess, in exchange for Democrats withdrawing their push to confirm four appellate nominees. Additionally, the Senate will consider five more district court nominees advanced by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Schumer’s spokesperson described the deal as “four circuit nominees — all lacking the votes to get confirmed — for more than triple the number of additional judges moving forward.”
The appellate nominees removed from consideration included Ryan Park (4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia), Julia Lipez (1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston), Karla Campbell (6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati), and Adeel Mangi.
