WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate will not hold a vote on four of President Joe Biden’s appeals court nominees as part of a deal with Republicans to allow faster consideration of other judicial nominations and put Biden within very within striking distance of the total of 234 judicial confirmations that occurred during newly elected President Donald Trump’s first term.
Currently, the number of judges confirmed under Biden totals 221. Republicans forced numerous procedural votes this week and late last night as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DY, tried to move forward to get more of Biden’s nominees confirmed before Congress adjourned. and Republicans take control of the House in January.
A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Thursday that a timing agreement had been reached to allow seven district judges to be heard in the week after Thanksgiving. In addition, another six district judges would be placed on the Senate executive branch agenda, which could make them eligible to run for the Senate in December.
Excluded from that list were four circuit judge nominations awaiting a floor vote: Adeel Abdullah Mangi of New Jersey, nominated to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Karla M. Campbell of Tennessee, nominated to the Sixth Circuit; Julia M. Lipez of Maine, First Circuit; and Ryan Young Park of North Carolina, Fourth Circuit.
Mangi would have been the first Muslim-American to serve as a federal appeals court judge if confirmed. Mangi holds law degrees from Oxford and Harvard. He works at a prestigious law firm and has achieved significant legal victories. But his limited volunteer work with two outside groups has put his nomination in jeopardy. He also faced opposition from some Democrats.
The battle for the confirmation of circuit judges is generally a much tougher battle, given their role in hearing appeals from district courts and because they often have the final say on legal matters.
Schumer’s office said the four circuit nominees did not have the support to be confirmed and that they received more than triple the number of other judges who emerged as part of the deal.
Liberal groups have put pressure on Senate Democrats in recent weeks to do what is necessary to get all of Biden’s judicial nominees confirmed before Trump returns to power. And some expressed disappointment with the deal.
“Reports that there is a deal that would leave critical nominees behind in court are unacceptable. All of these nominees must be quickly confirmed before the end of the 118th Congress,” said Lena Zwarensteyn, advisor at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. .
“As Senators return from the holidays, Leader Schumer and Senators must do whatever it takes – for as long as it takes – to confirm every pending judicial nominee, including all circuit court nominees, to provide an important guardrail for our democracy . Whatever happens, this has to happen,” Zwarensteyn said.
Schumer has devoted much of the Senate schedule to confirming Biden’s judicial nominees. He called it a fundamental responsibility of the Senate.
“We will take that responsibility very seriously between now and the end of the year,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
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