Judges Back on the Agenda, While Democrats Obstruct

From January, 2017 through January 2019, the U.S. Senate confirmed thirty appellate judges, a record. Adding two Supreme Court justices and district court nominees into the mix, a total of 85 judges were confirmed. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that because of Democratic obstruction in the Senate, there are more judicial vacancies to fill now (162) than when the President took office (125).
Senate Democrats have declared a scorched earth policy against the President’s nominees. While they don’t have the votes to outright defeat judicial nominees – Republicans hold a 53-47 seat advantage – they are invoking every procedural tool available to slow down the confirmation process.
At the end of early January, as the 115th Congress ended, 71 judicial nominations remained pending. If cooperation and good will existed at all, both parties in the Senate would simply agree to carry over the pending nominees to the new 116th Congress, which would eliminate the need for those nominees to begin the Judiciary Committee process again. Democrats didn’t cooperate, and so those nominations were “returned” to the White House, only to be sent back to the Senate as re-nominations. The net result is wasted time and delay.
There was one noticeable hiccup in the re-nomination process, however, that conservatives quickly picked up on, involving three nominees to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the notoriously liberal appellate court located in California that covers nine western states plus two territories. Those three nominees weren’t re-nominated along with the rest, and speculation began that the White House was negotiating with the two Democratic California senators, who were demanding at least one nominee of their choice. Within 24 hours of online conservative dismay surfacing over this possibility, the White House re-nominated two of the three judges plus a third conservative to those seats, as California’s two senators complained and promised further obstruction.
Besides obstruction, the smear tactics of Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee have become extreme. Although millions of viewers witnessed the defamatory and incendiary antics coming from the Democratic side of the committee dais during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it is less well known but of equal concern that some of those same senators have questioned nominees’ religious faith or membership in faith-based organizations. That is a dangerous trend and violates the spirit, if not the letter, of Article VI of the Constitution concerning religious tests for office.
As the 116th Congress begins with a Republican-controlled Senate and a Democrat-controlled House, there is little hope for any agreement on much-needed legislation, as the recent partial government shutdown over funding for a border wall evidences. However, the Senate’s Republican majority has a unique chance to focus on confirming as many constitutionalist judges as possible, even in the face of Democratic obstruction.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Hausknecht, J.D., is an attorney who serves as Focus on the Family’s judicial analyst. He is responsible for research and analysis of legal and judicial issues related to Christians and the institution of the family, including First Amendment freedom of religion and free speech issues, judicial activism, marriage, homosexuality and pro-life matters. He also tracks legislation and laws affecting these issues. Prior to joining Focus in 2004, Hausknecht practiced law for 17 years in construction litigation and as an associate general counsel for a large ministry in Virginia. He was also an associate pastor at a church in Colorado Springs for seven years, primarily in worship music ministry. Hausknecht has provided legal analysis and commentary for top media outlets including CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS Radio, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and BBC radio. He’s also a regular contributor to The Daily Citizen. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. Hausknecht has been married since 1981 and has three adult children, as well as three adorable grandkids. In his free time, Hausknecht loves getting creative with his camera and capturing stunning photographs of his adopted state of Colorado.