Senate Democrats plan to make confirming President Joe Biden's judicial nominees a top agenda item when they return from the holidays, after helping him put more judges on the bench than his predecessor Donald Trump did in his first two years in office.
While passing major legislation is largely off the table once Republicans take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the new session of Congress, Biden's ability to confirm new judges has strengthened after Democrats very narrowly increased their control of the Senate in November's elections.
The exact contours of the Democrats' majority is in flux after Senator Kyrsten Sinema switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent. But either she caucuses with Democrats and gives the party a 51-49 majority or she does not, leaving Democrats with a 50-49 edge. "Why these people at this particular time?" he said. "What hope do they give us for protecting our democracy?"Progressive groups like Alliance for Justice and Demand Justice are urging Democrats to seize the moment and remove one big remaining hurdle to nominating judges — requiring home-state senators to return so-called "blue slips" before district court nominees can be considered by the Judiciary Committee.
"It is a huge leap to suggest that maybe they would actually help President Biden fill lifetime judges in their states," said Chris Kang, a co-founder of Demand Justice. His diversity efforts have extended beyond race and gender, with a record 29 confirmed judges with backgrounds as public defenders and 12 former civil rights lawyers appointed to the bench, according to the Alliance for Justice.
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