Trump’s judge appointment blitz faces Republican resistance

Detailed summary

Trump’s judicial nominations face Republican resistance as senators block or question some nominees during the Senate’s lame-duck session. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Until recently, Senate Republicans had routinely approved Donald Trump’s nominees for lifetime seats on district and appeals courts during his second term.

WASHINGTON – A last-minute effort by US President Donald Trump to install as many judges as possible before Democrats take control of the US Senate is running into resistance from some fellow Republicans.

Until recently, Senate Republicans had routinely approved Trump’s nominees for lifetime seats on district and appeals courts during his second term, confirming 57 so far and helping him cement a conservative imprint on the judiciary that will outlast his presidency.

But as the White House and Senate Republican leaders press ahead with judicial nominees during the lame-duck session, a handful of Republicans have blocked or cast doubt on three nominees selected for their home states.

Senators traditionally help choose judges for vacancies in their states. Trial court nominees are especially vulnerable because, under Senate custom, home-state senators can block them by withholding a “blue slip”, a form indicating support to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While generally honouring that tradition, the White House has sometimes picked conservatives to fill judicial vacancies over the objections of Republican senators.

“We put up a lot of really qualified candidates that we sent to the White House, and they basically ignored that and just put through their one,” Senator Alan Armstrong, an Oklahoma Republican, said.

Two outgoing Republican members on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, can deny such nominees the votes needed to advance.

The White House on Nov 10 took the rare step of withdrawing US District Judge Lee Rudofsky’s nomination to the St. Louis-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals and replacing him with Arkansas Supreme Court Justice J. Cody Hiland after US Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton of Arkansas opposed Rudofsky.

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