Trump's Judge-Confirmation Push Meets Republican Resistance as 23 Nominees Await Votes
President Donald Trump's last-minute push to confirm as many federal judges as possible before Democrats take control of the Senate is meeting resistance from some fellow Republicans, Reuters reported on Sunday. Senate Republicans have confirmed 57 of Trump's judicial nominees so far in his second term, and the White House hopes to confirm as many as possible during the lame-duck session, but three home-state picks have been blocked or questioned.
The White House on November 10 withdrew the nomination of U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and replaced him with Arkansas Supreme Court Justice J. Cody Hiland, after Arkansas Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton opposed Rudofsky. Senate Judiciary Committee members Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas can also block nominees under the chamber's home-state custom, and T. Elliot Gaiser, Trump's pick for a federal judgeship in Dallas, faces questions as well.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on November 9 that confirming judges is a top priority while Republicans still hold the chamber, and the Senate confirmed its first lame-duck nominee on November 12. Twenty-three nominees remain pending, including Colorado-based U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico, whose nomination to the Denver-based 10th Circuit is set for a vote on Monday. A White House official said all pending nominees are expected to be confirmed this year. Trump appointed 234 federal judges in his first term, including three Supreme Court justices, building the court's current 6-3 conservative majority.
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图中为美国国会大厦西立面。来源：Wikimedia Commons，Martin Falbisoner 拍摄，CC BY-SA 3.0。
