Senate Seeks No Vacancy for Courts

by Tony Perkins: President Donald Trump is determined that judicial confirmations will be one of the hallmarks of his presidency, as evidenced by the successful replacement of Justice Antonin Scalia with a strong constitutionalist in Justice Neil Gorsuch. But the effort to fill vacancies at the Circuit Court and District court level continues despite the continued obstructionism from Senate Democrats. In a press conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last week, the president referred to the number of nominations his administration has made -- a number totaling over 65 -- as one of his administration's "unsung victories."

The most notable judicial victory in the Trump administration to date is undoubtedly the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, whose installation to the highest court of the land was the fulfillment of one of the president's critical campaign promises to fill the vacancy on the Court left by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

However, in the months since Gorsuch's confirmation, there remains a massive backlog of judicial nominees still languishing in the Senate's confirmation process. There are currently 149 judicial vacancies, 120 district court, 21 circuit court, and eight other court vacancies. The Judicial Crisis Network points out that if the Senate were to continue to confirm judges at the snails' pace with which they have been moving, then it will take ten years to fill those seats.

The painfully slow creep of confirmations is due in large part to the convoluted Senate process, which is vulnerable at all stages to partisan opposition. Democrats have thus far used these procedural hurdles to effectively run the clock and waste floor time on up to thirty hours of debate for the confirmation of even the most uncontroversial district judges, even when they have overwhelming bi-partisan support.

As of yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, successfully reported out eight more judicial nominees, two for circuit courts and six for district courts, and they now await votes on the Senate floor. Senator McConnell has vowed that the Senate will confirm these nominees despite minority opposition. "We're not going to let these mindless attempts to slow progress stop us from confirming the president's nominees to the judiciary...You can count on it" the majority leader said in a press release.

Putting actions behind his announcement Senator McConnell filed cloture yesterday on four Circuit Court nominees, whose confirmations will be voted on next week. Among them is Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett, a nominee for the 7th Circuit Court, whose recent committee hearing made headlines last month when Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) unleashed an unconstitutional religious litmus test against Barrett saying the "dogma lives loudly within [her]."

Ms. Barrett and others deserve fair consideration on the Senate floor. We will score in favor of the vote to proceed to Ms. Barrett's confirmation, as no senator should target a judicial nomination for her faith. As a country based on the rule of law, we need judges who will impartially and fairly apply the law, not craft it according to their ideology or political views. Indeed, the very writings Feinstein used to criticize Ms. Barrett clearly demonstrate that she will adhere to the rule of law, and fairly and neutrally decide the cases before her. The president is doing his job nominating sound judges who will do their job and not engage in activism, and the Senate must, despite Democrat obstructionism, continue to do one of its most important jobs and confirm these judges.
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Tony Perkins is President of the Family Research Council . This article was on Tony Perkin's Washington Update an written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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