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Now that the midterm elections are over, Republicans have decided to use the next two months to be productive during a lame-duck session. According to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Republican senators will work through New Year's Eve to confirm all of President Donald Trump's pending judicial nominations, The Washington Times reported. The decision comes after Democrats made a pact to take the maximum amount of time to debate Trump's picks, which could severely hinder the GOP's legislative priority of packing the federal courts with conservative judges. “I know that Sen. McConnell has made a commitment that we’re not going to leave any...

Democrats boycotted Wednesday’s hearing on another slate of President Trump’s judicial nominees, continuing their attempts to hinder Republicans’ plans to stock the courts with an army of conservative judges. The Judiciary Committee heard from four nominees, including two picks for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most liberal panels in the country and long a target for Republicans who complain of activist liberal judges. Wednesday’s boycott is the second in a row after Democrats refused to show for a hearing last week on other court picks. Democrats say it is unprecedented to hold hearings on judges...

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee blasted the White House Thursday for picking nominees for the West Coast’s appeals court without consulting her, and saying one of the three doesn’t have any judicial experience. President Trump named a new slate of court picks Wednesday, including three judges to sit on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California objected, saying she had tried to consult with the White House but was rebuffed. She said she would withhold her blue slip, in a signal that she doesn’t acquiesce to the picks. Blue slips are a...

The Judiciary Committee cleared eight more judicial nominees Thursday, giving GOP leaders a total of 49 judges ready to be confirmed by the whole Senate. The votes — the first since the committee’s nasty fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh — cleared seven district court nominees and one circuit court pick. That nominee, Jonathan A. Kobes for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was approved on a party-line vote. Democrats said Mr. Kobes, who works as a lawyer for Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican, wasn’t ready to be a judge, citing the American Bar Association’s rating...

The Senate is preparing to confirm six of President Trump’s federal appeals court judges this week, including a pick that doesn’t have support from one of his home-state senators and has been Mr. Trump’s longest-pending federal appeals court nominee. Michael B. Brennan, who was tapped for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, was nominated more than 246 days ago. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, has placed him on the chamber’s agenda for a confirmation vote this week after the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared Mr. Brennan by a party-line vote. Mr. Brennan is one of six...

Step one: Scream that the GOP tax reform bill would be a "massive attack" on the middle class.  Step two: Concede that actually yes, nearly all middle income earners would get a tax break under the bill.  Step three: Call for its repeal anyway, effectively demanding a tax increase -- a "massive attack," one might even say -- on middle class Americans and US businesses.  It sounds like Bernie Sanders has picked up the same tax hike hymnal from which Nancy Pelosi was singing last week: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called Monday for the Republican tax law to be repealed...

President Trump announced his 11th wave of judicial nominees on Monday, intending to nominate nine federal judges including four federal circuit court picks. Since taking office roughly one year ago, Mr. Trump faced an unprecedented amount of vacancies on the federal bench. He’s had 13 circuit court judges confirmed in the past year.

Seventeen of President Trump’s federal court nominees cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, setting them up for floor votes as Republicans look to install as many conservative judges as possible. Eight of the judges were deemed very controversial and were approved on a 11-10 party-line votes, while just two were approved unanimously. Three of the judges were for circuit courts. Democrats raised concerns over several of the nominees over their LGBTQ positions, saying they would not be fair to that community. But Democrats spent the most time protesting Thomas Alvin Farr, who was nominated to be a district judge for...

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee chastised their Republican colleagues on Thursday, accusing them of rushing President Trump’s judicial nominees through the confirmation process. Ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said it was the fastest confirmation pace for circuit court nominees she could remember in her 25 years on the committee. “I want to point out that it’s a marked contrast to the traditional rate of confirmations,” she said. “For example, last week marked the fourth hearing since May when two circuit court nominees were on the agenda the same day. That’s four times in six months, yet this committee only...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to nix the blue slip for two of President Trump’s judicial picks, sparking a showdown with Democrats over nominations. Grassley announced on Thursday that he has scheduled Nov. 29 hearings for David Stras, Trump’s nomination to be an appellate judge on the 8th Circuit, and for Kyle Duncan, nominated to serve the 5th Circuit. “Today I’m announcing that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing for two circuit court nominees, each of whom has one home state senator who has not returned a blue slip containing a positive endorsement,” Grassley said from the Senate...

Democrats and the liberal media are slamming President Trump for packing federal courts with "unfit" judges. Nonsense. Trump's nominees have impressive credentials. What's the left's real gripe? These judges will decide cases based on what the U.S. Constitution says, instead of rewriting law to suit a progressive agenda. Look for fireworks in the U.S. Senate Wednesday, when the American Bar Association tries to justify rating several of Trump's nominees "not qualified." ABA ratings are a political hit job masquerading as high-minded objectivity. Consider the ABA's "not qualified" rating of Leonard Steven Grasz, a Nebraska attorney nominated to the appeals court....

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley signaled this week he won’t adhere to a strict “blue-slip” policy for judicial nominees, clearing the path for Republicans to install some of President Trump’s picks over the objections of home-state Democrats. Mr. Grassley said the blue-slip tradition was intended to make sure the president consults with senators about judicial picks from their states, but wasn’t intended to give those same senators an absolute veto. “A senator can’t use a blue slip to block a nominee because it’s not the person the senator would’ve picked. The president gets to nominate judges,” Mr. Grassley said...

One of President Trump's judicial nominees is getting much-needed support from the Judicial Crisis Network. The network is throwing its support behind Kyle Duncan, President Trump's choice for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana.Duncan has quite the track record. He is a Constitutional lawyer and represented Hobby Lobby in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Hobby Lobby case tackled the question of whether or not the Religious Freedom Act of 1993 allows a business to not provide contraception to its employees based on the sincerely held religious beliefs of its owners. In a...

The Senate confirmed two more appeals court picks Thursday, closing out a week that saw them devote all their time to filling the federal judiciary with President Trump’s nominees. Including the two latest picks, they confirmed four circuit judges and one district judge this week — overcoming Democratic filibuster attempts for each. Senators voted 56-41 to confirm Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid for a seat on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then voted 54-43 for Stephanos Bibas, who is nominated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

American Bar Association evaluators referred to conservatives as “you people” and prodded one of President Trump’s judicial picks on his personal beliefs about abortion before slapping him with the group’s lowest judicial rating, the nominee told Congress Wednesday. Leonard Grasz, nominated for the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, received a “not qualified” rating from the ABA after the grilling. He said that during the questioning it became clear the ABA evaluators didn’t like his pro-life personal stance. “I was asked repeatedly for my personal opinion on social issues including abortion — it seemed to be a great topic of...

Republicans are digging in ahead of a looming battle over President Trump's judicial nominees. Senate GOP leadership wants to clear four picks this week for the circuit courts—which are second in line to the Supreme Court—amid pressure from conservatives to pick up the pace. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned that Republicans would confirm all of the nominees, even if it meant keeping lawmakers in town through a rare weekend session. “We'll confirm all of them this week no matter how long it takes,” McConnell said from the Senate floor. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the No. 2 Senate Republican,...

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer put pressure Wednesday on the GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to retain the “blue slip” process that could give Democrats a path to scuttle some of the president’s judicial nominees. Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, told Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the chairman, to resist calls to de-prioritize the blue slip process — including suggestions from the Senate’s top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell. “The Senate has fewer and fewer mechanisms that create bipartisanship and bring people to an agreement. The blue slips are one of them,” said Mr. Schumer in a press release...

This may seem like an abstruse parliamentary maneuver -- and it is -- but Mitch McConnell just escalated the judicial wars in a minor but meaningful way. If frustrated conservatives want the GOP Senate majority to " start acting like one ," McConnell's decision eliminates a lever Democrats have been using to stymie some of President Trump's judicial picks. In that sense, he's very much acting like a majority leader; a Democratic one. Try not to let your eyes glaze over as you read the details of this move, which involves dramatically reducing the power of so-called "blue slips"...

President Trump’s pick to fill the appeals court seat left vacant when Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined the Supreme Court cruised through her confirmation hearing Wednesday, with Democrats chiefly complaining about the timing rather than her judicial record. Colorado Supreme Court Justice Allison Eid faced some questions about her judicial record, but Democrats said their major objection was the speed Republicans were showing in trying to fill court vacancies — including Wednesday’s hearing, which was held even though the Senate wasn’t in session that day. “It’s extraordinary for a nominations hearing to be held when the Senate is not otherwise...

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