Senate Democrats are committed to working late nights and weekends — even the upcoming holidays — to get as many of President Joe Biden's judicial nominees confirmed, The Hill reported Monday.
Working through the Christmas recess is also an option, according to the report. Republicans take control of the Senate on Jan. 3.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Democrats on Monday that they "will keep working to confirm as many of President Biden's judicial nominees as we can before the end of the year."
The Senate was expected to be in session until late Monday or early Tuesday morning in order to file cloture on a batch of Biden nominees that would tee up confirmation votes for later this week, according to the report.
A total of 213 federal judges have been appointed under Biden, 21 short of the 234 appointed by President-elect Donald Trump in his first term. As of Oct. 10, there were 28 pending nominees: 17 waiting for floor votes, eight waiting to be advanced out of the Judiciary Committee, and three waiting for hearings before the committee, according to the American Constitution Society.
Trump last week took umbrage with the Biden administration ramming through their judicial nominations while Democrats still have the Senate majority in the waning days of the 118th Congress.
"[N]o Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE," Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Nov. 10.
Instead, Democrats are preparing for long nights and holiday sessions.
"I wouldn't rule those out and Schumer has not ruled them out either," Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said of working parts of Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. "I hope that the Republicans will at least be as cooperative with us as we were with them."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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