Free Republic

The health care push collapsed. The White House is the scene of a frantic game of musical chairs. And the looming specter of the Russia investigation has plagued President Trump since he took office. But amid the chaos, the Trump administration is steadily making progress on a campaign promise that will outlast this administration for decades: the confirmation of federal judges to lifetime positions on the bench. Trump wooed wary Republicans last year with pledges to appoint conservative judges. His administration so far has delivered. The White House has announced more than two dozen lower court nominees to date, and...

President Trump agrees the government glass is half empty. He just doesn’t necessarily mind it. Trump, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with “Fox & Friends,” suggested his lack of political appointees is less about a difficulty in finding eager candidates and more about a desire for a leaner government operation. “When I see a story about ‘Donald Trump didn’t fill hundreds and hundreds of jobs,’ it’s because, in many cases, we don’t want to fill those jobs,” Trump said. Prior to taking office, stories abounded about the more than 600 unfilled senior appointments that Trump had yet to make. But...

It has long been evident that the process of confirming legions of appointees — which takes place even as countless legislative matters are considered — has overwhelmed the resources of Congress to expeditiously process them. Administrations find that many positions are unfilled even as Congress recesses for the summer — some 200 days into the tenure of a new administration. All this makes the FDR “100 days” standard for decisive action obsolete, a fact recognized when GOP Congressional leaders now call for a “200 days” benchmark for enacting major items on the Trump agenda.

A top Senate Republican is warning that the Senate could work around the clock as they try to confirm three more of President Trump's nominees. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) stressed that how late the Senate is in session is up to Democrats. Absent a deal, he said lawmakers will stay in Washington through Saturday. "We can do it cooperatively so we can burn time when we're out of session or if they won't agree to that, we can stay in session 24 hours," he told The Hill, asked about the schedule for the rest of the week....

The Majority leader owns the Senate Calendar. Here is the blistering pace that the turtle has set for confirmation votes since the Jan 20th inauguration On the Cloture Motion: Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Elisabeth DeVos to be Secretary of Education PN37 Feb 03 51 (52-47) Passed On the Joint Resolution: H.J.Res. 41; A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers". H.J.Res. 41 Feb 03 50 (52-48) Agreed to On the Motion to Proceed:...

From Facebook, from someone I trust: "Senator John Thune just confirmed on Fox News that Republicans will stick with the nuclear option, instituted by Reid and the Democrats to get their more controversial appointments through. In other words, there will be very little chance any of Trump's cabinet appointments can be stopped."

The State Department has told Senate investigators it cannot find backup copies of emails sent by Bryan Pagliano, the top Hillary Clinton IT staffer who maintained her email server but has asserted his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer questions on the matter. State officials told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a recent closed-door meeting that they could not locate what’s known as a “.pst file” for Pagliano's work during Clinton's tenure, which would have included copies of the tech expert's emails, according to a letter Chairman Chuck Grassley sent to Secretary of State John Kerry that was obtained...

Democrats may have changed the rules on filibusters, but far from ending the intense battle over President Obama’s nominations, the move has pushed Republicans to fight harder — and to pioneer other tactics. The latest move was made late Friday, just as the Senate was preparing to adjourn for a two-week recess. Republicans refused to allow a courtesy request to keep the full slate of Obama nominees pending. As a result, the nomination process must restart early next year. It was a capstone of a year in which a deal on filibusters frayed and finally collapsed, leaving the Senate atmosphere...

Senate Republicans will stage a more than 30-hour talkathon on the Senate floor to protest Democrats’ triggering of the "nuclear option" last month. The GOP protest, which could extend into the weekend, will throw a wrench in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) hopes of wrapping up legislative business for 2013 as soon as possible. Republicans will delay a final vote on Cornelia Pillard, one of President Obama’s picks for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, until about 1 a.m. Thursday. Then, Senate Republicans will hold the floor throughout the night, speaking out against Reid’s use of the nuclear option....

The Senate Judiciary committee will vote on either Wednesday or Thursday whether to confirm Robert Wilkins, President Obama’s nominee to the prestigious D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals -- the court often referred to after the Supreme Court as the “second highest court” in the country. President Obama has spared little rhetoric in threatening Republicans should they dare defeat or delay Wilkins’ nomination. When Wilkins was nominated in June, Obama accused Republicans of being “cynically” engaging in “unprecedented”obstruction of judicial nominations. Democrats claim that any fair consideration would guarantee Wilkins’ quick confirmation. After all, as they point out, Wilkins was quickly...

Discussion on Fox & Friends about how those being confirmed to judgeships aren't as smart as they used to be http://video.foxnews.com/v/2684096555001/are-politics-dumbing-down-americas-courts/

Unless you are a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, you probably have never heard of Lillian BeVier. BeVier graduated at the top of her class from Stanford Law School in 1965, where she worked as an editor of the prestigious Stanford Law Review. She went on to receive multiple distinguished awards throughout her career in private practice before joining the University of Virginia law faculty in 1973. By 1991, she was the perfect candidate with ideal credentials when President George H.W. Bush nominated her for a vacancy on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Yet...

The new Democrat-controlled Senate has confirmed just 29 percent of President Bush's nominations so far this year, leaving many government agencies without key officials and slowing work to a crawl in some departments. Since Jan. 7, the president has sent 229 major nominations to the Senate, but just 66 have been confirmed. Those figures exclude U.S. attorneys, marshals and judges, but the White House says those nominations also have an alarmingly low confirmation rate — just 18 of the 46 (39 percent) sent to the Senate this year have been approved. http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070702/NATION/107020057/1002

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation Thomas M. Hardiman, of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. Circuit Judge ) Vote Number: 78 Vote Date: March 15, 2007, 05:01 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed Nomination Number: PN8 Nomination Description: Thomas M. Hardiman, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Vote Counts: YEAs 95 NAYs 0 Not Voting 5

Why is Lincoln Chafee Now Simply Not Removed from the Senate Foreign Relations Commuttee? Assuming another lame duck Senator doesn't decide to play snake, Bolton's appointment to the UN then finally passes passes out of committee on a 9 to 8 vote. Why not? If Robert Byrd wanted to do something nobody ever heard of while his party was in the majority, he'd unearth some parliamentary maneuver to get the job done. Even the stupid party can't ignore factual procedures thrust in their face -- unless they don't want to hear it. C'mon. There must be a way to do...

Yesterday with 46 confirmations, the 109th Senate had confirmed the fewest judges than any Congress since 1963-1964, in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. Today with 50 confirmations, the 109th Congress has confirmed the fewest judges than any Congress since 1973-1974, in the shadow of the Watergate presidency…. [T]he last time the Senate confirmed two Supreme Court nominations (1993-1994, 103rd), they also confirmed 127 other Clinton-appointed judges…. [T]he last time that a Congress (1985-1986, 99th) confirmed two Supreme Court justices in the first two years of a second term president, with the same party controlling the WH and the Senate,...

Watching the Alito confirmation hearings is much like watching an old Matlock rerun, except with Barney Fife doing the questioning… If it weren’t so infuriating, it would be about as interesting as watching paint dry. Apparently, I need to point out a few things to my friends across the aisle, not the least of which is the fact that a seat on the Supreme Court is NOT an elected position, but rather a presidential appointed position based upon the judicial qualifications of the candidate, not their personal ideologies.

An Open Letter to Senator Schumer Dear Senator : You have been quoted in the press as being opposed to the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court because it would “divide – not unite Americans”. I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, but I should have thought you’d be aware America is ALREADY a “divided” nation – and, if you are the Liberal you claim to be, one would think you would want it to STAY that way ! We Americans differ on a LOT of issues. For example , you have long been famous ( or infamous )...

It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family. There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy...

A historic meltdown occurred in the summer of 1987. Washington, D.C. became a kiln of sweltering heat, smothering both man and beast. The blinding sun seared skin, the inside of noses singed with every breath, and anything within 50 feet of the sizzling sidewalks seemed to bake. But the truly toxic heat bellowed from the chambers of the U.S. Senate as Ted Kennedy took the floor. That summer found me “popping pregnant” -- 7 months and counting -- so I remember the heat well. I also was expectant with hope when President Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to fill a...