Judicial-Nominations Update

The Senate is planning to adjourn for its August recess on Thursday, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell intends to confirm a whole lot of judges before that happens.

Last week, McConnell filed for cloture (to end debate) on 19 district court nominees. Confirming all 19 judges is going to require cooperation on the part of Senate Democrats, given that they have continued to require time-consuming cloture and roll call votes for even the most uncontroversial judicial nominees. But the group of 19 that McConnell has put up is a bipartisan one, including a few nominees from very blue states. Assuming that all 19 nominees are confirmed this week, this would be a big step in tackling the list of 40 judicial nominees that are currently awaiting confirmation votes.

Here is a full update on the status of President Trump’s federal judicial nominations:

Current and known future vacancies: 137

Courts of Appeals: 5

District/Specialty Courts*: 132

Pending nominees for current and known future vacancies: 55

Courts of Appeals: 1

District/Specialty Courts*: 54

* Includes the Court of Federal Claims and the International Trade Court

Court of Appeals Nominees Awaiting Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings

Nominee (Circuit) Original Nomination Date Days Since Original Nomination Both Blue Slips Returned? Judiciary Committee Hearing Date None

Court of Appeals Nominees Awaiting Senate Judiciary Committee Votes

Nominee (Circuit) Original Nomination Date Days Since Original Nomination Judiciary Committee Hearing Date Halil Suleyman “Sul” Ozerden 6/24/19 36 7/17/19