President Biden and Senate Democrats are racing to confirm more judicial nominees than former President Donald Trump did during his time in office.
But the Legislature faces a tight schedule, with time-sensitive bills being introduced this fall and a full month off in October.
Before the August recess, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced that seven nominees had been advanced from the committee for confirmation consideration. It's unclear when those votes will take place after the Senate reconvenes.
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Democrats face significant time constraints in their efforts to get Biden to appoint more judges than President Trump. (Reuters)
A spokesperson for Durbin told Fox News Digital in a statement: “Senate Democrats are in a strong position to confirm additional Biden-Harris judicial nominees for the remainder of the year. Chairman Durbin will continue to hold nomination hearings and revision conferences through the end of the Congress, while pushing for a plenary vote on these highly qualified and diverse nominees who will bring balance to the federal judiciary.”
According to statistics from the Heritage Foundation, Biden has appointed 205 federal judges during his term, while Trump had appointed 204 as of September 5, 2020. Justice Tracker.
Both Biden and Trump have placed a new emphasis on the federal judiciary, focusing on making as many appointments as quickly as possible during their terms, matching the number of appointments made by their predecessors, whose confirmations took twice as long.
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Biden reached the milestone of 200 appointments in May. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Trump has been particularly successful in appointing many judges to influential appellate court positions — in fact, he appointed nearly as many judges during his term as former President Barack Obama did over his two terms.
In May, the Biden White House appointed 200 federal judges over the same period in his term, officially surpassing President Trump. “Judges matter. These men and women have the power to either uphold fundamental rights or roll them back,” he said in a statement at the time, highlighting his commitment to judicial appointments.
Biden was ahead of Trump in key metric judicial nominations in the spring, but fell back to the same number as the former president in August when the Senate left Washington, D.C., for its recess. The extended out-of-session periods in August and October pose a major hurdle for Senate Democrats to confirm Biden's judges.
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Chuck Schumer said the spending bill needs to be bipartisan. (Reuters)
Moreover, Congress has several time-sensitive legislative battles underway that could eat up valuable time. A partial government shutdown looms at the end of this month if Congress cannot reach a spending deal by the deadline. This could be difficult, as conservative Republicans in the House and Senate, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), are pushing for a six-month continuing resolution to keep spending levels constant through March, as well as a companion bill to require proof of citizenship to vote.
Inclusion of the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is likely to be an impossible feat for Democrats. Asked about the Republican-backed bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Fox News Digital that any spending deal would have to be bipartisan.
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Durbin is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Five Democrats in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, but that may not be enough, with Schumer refusing to take it to a vote in the Senate.
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Congress is scheduled to recess for another month after September ends, leaving little time to confirm the final list of justices when it returns in November and December with national holidays to consider.
Schumer's office did not comment to Fox News Digital on whether he was confident he could appoint more judges than President Trump, given the time constraints.
