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Philip Bump: Trump demands the lame-duck president not do what he did as a lame duck
WaPo / Philip Bump - (archived: https://archive.ph/gD9OS ) Trump demands the lame-duck president not do what he did as a lame duck
One in 14 Trump judges was confirmed after he lost his reelection bid.
Column by Philip Bump
November 13, 2024 at 11:46 a.m. EST
One of the false things Donald Trump said repeatedly as president was that he was able to nominate so many judges to the bench because his predecessor, Barack Obama, had simply left the positions vacant. As is usually the case with Trump, the falsehood was meant to serve as a disparagement of his Democratic opponent. And, as is usually the case when talking about Obama’s efforts to fill empty judicial positions, the central cause for the vacancies was actually opposition from the Republican-led Senate.
When Trump became president, he had no such problem. The Senate, led by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), confirmed scores of Trump nominees, including his nominee for a seat on the Supreme Court that McConnell had intentionally declined to fill during Obama’s administration. And when Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020, he and his allies in the Senate did not slow down.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Democrats control the Senate (for now) and the White House (for now). And Trump has advice for his allies on Capitol Hill: Do whatever you can to keep judicial positions unfilled.
“[N]o Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership,” he wrote on social media. “THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.”
It was four years ago.
Data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts shows how Trump took advantage of the backlog of unfilled judicial positions during the two Congresses (the 115th and 116th) for which he was in charge of the executive branch. There were nearly four times as many confirmations in the first Congress of Trump’s presidency as there were in the last Congress of Obama’s.
/snip
One in 14 Trump judges was confirmed after he lost his reelection bid.
Column by Philip Bump
November 13, 2024 at 11:46 a.m. EST
One of the false things Donald Trump said repeatedly as president was that he was able to nominate so many judges to the bench because his predecessor, Barack Obama, had simply left the positions vacant. As is usually the case with Trump, the falsehood was meant to serve as a disparagement of his Democratic opponent. And, as is usually the case when talking about Obama’s efforts to fill empty judicial positions, the central cause for the vacancies was actually opposition from the Republican-led Senate.
When Trump became president, he had no such problem. The Senate, led by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), confirmed scores of Trump nominees, including his nominee for a seat on the Supreme Court that McConnell had intentionally declined to fill during Obama’s administration. And when Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020, he and his allies in the Senate did not slow down.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Democrats control the Senate (for now) and the White House (for now). And Trump has advice for his allies on Capitol Hill: Do whatever you can to keep judicial positions unfilled.
“[N]o Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership,” he wrote on social media. “THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.”
It was four years ago.
Data from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts shows how Trump took advantage of the backlog of unfilled judicial positions during the two Congresses (the 115th and 116th) for which he was in charge of the executive branch. There were nearly four times as many confirmations in the first Congress of Trump’s presidency as there were in the last Congress of Obama’s.
/snip
I hope the Biden admin is filling every one of those slots as I write this!
4 replies
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