Democrats in Race Against Time to Fill Dozens of Judicial Vacancies

As the clock ticks toward President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, Democrats are racing to fill dozens of judicial vacancies across federal courts.
With just over two months to go until Trump becomes president, Senate Democrats are considering an aggressive effort in the next few weeks to confirm as many of President Biden’s judicial appointments as possible during the lame-duck session. Republican control of both the White House and the Senate in January, would limit their ability to influence the federal judiciary.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is among the Democrats pushing the efforts.
“While still in charge of the Senate and the White House, we must do all we can to safeguard our democracy,” wrote the Massachusetts Democrat in a Time magazine editorial. “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must use every minute of the end-of-year legislative session to confirm federal judges and key regulators—none of whom can be removed by the next president.”
Schumer has filed for cloture to try to speed up two of President Biden’s federal judge nominations, both of whom were nominated for federal trial courts in Illinois, according to Law.com. The Senate will likely vote on the two nominees next week.
“We are going to get as many done as we can,” Schumer said in a statement, The New York Times reported.
A spokesperson for Senator Dick Durbin, incumbent chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Law.com that Durbin “aims to confirm every possible nominee before the end of this Congress.”
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s transition team for comment.
During the first Trump administration, 234 conservative-leaning judges—including three Supreme Court justices—were confirmed. Two years later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which had enshrined the federal right to an abortion.
As Trump returns to the White House, his influence over the federal bench will only increase. But if the Democrats are able to confirm judicial appointments before the end of President Biden’s term, there will be fewer available vacancies for Trump to fill.
Currently, there are four federal appeals court nominees awaiting a vote on the Senate floor, one nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit awaiting a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee after a confirmation hearing in July, and 23 district court nominees pending either floor or committee votes.
However, some of the pending nominees have been ready for floor votes for months due to unified GOP opposition, and in a Truth Social post this weekend, Trump asked that the Senate block any judicial nominations until he takes office because “the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges.”
If Republicans are united against a nominee, the defection of just two Democratic-aligned senators would be the end of the road. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, an independent, has also warned previously he will not advance any nominees that only have one party’s support.
And if the Democrats are not able to confirm Biden’s appointments, Trump could see much of his legislation, including his mass deportation plan, pass through the courts unchallenged over the next four years.
As a result, some liberal activists are calling for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 70, to step down from the Supreme Court to allow President Biden to appoint a younger justice that Trump could not replace.
Sotomayor is the senior Democratic-nominated member of the Supreme Court. She has indicated to colleagues that she has no plans to step down this year.
The lame-duck session of Congress will start on November 12, with lawmakers scheduled to adjourn for the holiday recess on December 20. On January 3, the 119th Congress will reconvene.
“I think there is a sense of urgency now more than ever,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, told CNN.