Dems Delay Trump’s Judicial Nominees by Running Out the Clock

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Lifezette

Dems Delay Trump’s Judicial Nominees by Running Out the Clock

Led by Chuck Schumer, Senate minority requires 30 hours of 'debate' for each nominee, including those with near-unanimous support

by Brendan Kirby | Updated 02 Mar 2018 at 7:00 AM

President Donald Trump has nominated 84 people for federal judgeships. Yet despite Republicans’ enjoying total control of the federal government, the judiciary has more vacancies than when the president took office.

Trump inherited 112 vacancies when he took the oath of office in January 2017. That has grown to 148, a 32 percent increase, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The reason for the growing backlog has less to do with the pace of Trump’s nominations, which has been steady, than with obstruction techniques by Democrats. Despite having a minority in the Senate and less favorable rules than Senate minorities have had in the past, legal experts said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has used every tool at his disposal to gum up the works.