In less than a month, elected Democrats will find themselves with far less authority in Washington, with the GOP controlling the House, Senate, and White House, leaving their capacity to challenge President-elect Donald Trump largely verbal.
But if Democratic leaders have learned anything from Republicans over the years, it is that the judiciary may sometimes be the biggest barrier to the opposition party gaining what it wants. As reporter Anthony Adragna wrote Friday, Senate Democrats have confirmed 235 of Biden’s judicial nominees, surpassing Trump’s 234 first-term judicial selections.
“I’m not sure exactly what [Trump] will do. But I will tell you this: The judiciary will be one of our strongest, if not the strongest, barriers to anything he does,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Playbook in an exclusive interview this week.
Four years ago, Schumer (together with President Joe Biden) announced a plan to use the party’s Senate majority to prioritize not only legislation, but also as many judicial nominees as possible.
What was the result?
“When we started out, we knew it would be a very difficult job to do more than Trump had done,” Schumer told reporters. “But we did: We got 235 — more than a quarter of the federal judiciary was appointed by our Senate and by the president.”
Continue reading AWN’s chat with Schumer in Thursday’s Playbook. ICYMI, here’s more judicial nomination coverage from the last week:
Democrats try to Trump-proof the federal judiciary.
Biden vetoes bill to create dozens of new federal judge vacancies.
