President Donald Trump is making a last-minute push to install as many federal judges as possible before Democrats take control of the United States Senate — but the effort is running into resistance from some of his fellow Republicans, according to a Reuters report published on Sunday.
The lame-duck scramble is the final chapter of a judicial project that began during Trump's first administration and has reshaped the federal bench. Senate Republicans have confirmed 57 of his nominees for lifetime seats on district and appeals courts during his second term, adding to the 234 judges he appointed between 2017 and 2021, including three members of the Supreme Court's current 6-3 conservative majority. Roughly one-third of all active federal judges are now Trump appointees.
But as the White House and Senate Republican leaders press ahead with the remaining nominees, a handful of Republican senators have blocked or cast doubt on three of them — nominees chosen for seats in their home states.
Three Nominees Stalled by Home-State Senators
The White House took the rare step on Tuesday of withdrawing the nomination of U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, replacing him with Arkansas Supreme Court Justice J. Cody Hiland after Republican Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton of Arkansas opposed Rudofsky.
Two outgoing Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, hold particular leverage: under the Senate's long-standing blue-slip tradition, they can deny home-state nominees the votes needed to advance. Tillis, who has had a fractured relationship with Trump, told reporters on Thursday that the White House has at times essentially dictated choices to senators rather than consulting them.
Cornyn has separately declined to commit to supporting T. Elliot Gaiser, Trump's nominee for a federal judgeship in Dallas. Gaiser now leads the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which has issued opinions endorsing some of the most controversial elements of Trump's agenda. Without a blue slip from Cornyn, Gaiser cannot appear at a Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Thune Makes Confirmations a Top Priority
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday that judicial confirmations were a top priority while Republicans retain control of the chamber. The Senate confirmed its first judicial nominee of the lame-duck session on Thursday, and 23 nominees remain pending.
Among them is Colorado-based U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico, whose nomination to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is set for a vote on Monday. The White House has said it expects all judicial nominees pending in the Senate to be confirmed this year.
The calendar adds urgency. Senator-elect Kevin Hern is set to replace an outgoing senator on November 30, and the balance of power shifts when Democrats take the majority — a change that would give them control of the confirmation process and the ability to block Trump's remaining picks.
What Is at Stake
For the White House, the next few weeks are the last chance to extend a judicial legacy that will outlast Trump's presidency. Lifetime appointments to the federal courts shape rulings on immigration, regulation, voting rights and executive power for decades, and the resistance from within Trump's own party shows that even a project with broad Republican support has limits when home-state senators feel sidelined.
Whether Thune can push the remaining 23 nominees through before the clock runs out will determine how much of that legacy is locked in — and how much is left for a Democratic Senate to stall or reject.
Source: Reuters