Trump’s judicial confirmations to face resistance in Democratic-controlled Senate
According to CBS News, after seeing success in reshaping the federal judiciary in his first term and the initial two years of his second administration, President Trump and Republicans' campaign to shift the courts to the right could be coming to an end with Democrats poised to take control of the Senate next year. During his first term, Mr. Trump successfully put more than 230 judges on the federal bench, including three justices on the Supreme Court. So far during his second term, the Senate has confirmed 57 of the president's judicial picks. But with Democrats poised to control at least 54 Senate seats, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump will fill many more vacancies on the U.S. district and appeals courts. Ed Whelan told CBS News that nearly no one is going to get confirmed. There are currently 28 vacancies on the federal courts and another 15 seats that will open up in the coming weeks and months. The GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee is moving quickly to advance those picks before control of the upper chamber changes hands. Sen. Dick Durbin criticized Republicans for violating numerous longstanding standards in a desperate attempt to confirm loyalists. Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley pushed back, arguing that chairs have discretion to set the panel's schedule.