Senate Republicans Open a Lame-Duck Dash on Trump's Judges — and a Northern District of Texas Nominee Clears the Panel 12–10
The Senate Judiciary Committee began pushing President Donald Trump's remaining judicial nominees toward confirmation on Tuesday, weeks before Democrats take control of the chamber. Among those advanced on party-line 12–10 votes: Courtney Coker for the Northern District of Texas — the federal trial court headquartered in Dallas — and Richard Bennett for the Southern District of Texas.
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday began a push to consider and advance as many of President Donald Trump's remaining judicial nominees as possible before Democrats take control of the chamber in January, Reuters reported. Three district court nominees cleared the panel on party-line 12-10 votes: Daniel Ballou for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Richard Bennett for the Southern District of Texas and Courtney Coker for the Northern District of Texas, the federal trial court whose headquarters sit in Dallas.
The panel's outgoing Republican chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, dismissed Democratic complaints that Republicans were bypassing longstanding committee practices to speed the nominees, saying, "I know what's coming." "I want to be very clear: Some Democrats so despise President Trump that for the first time in our nation's history they're planning to stonewall a president's ability to appoint judges," Grassley said, per Reuters. Committee Democrats undercut the message in one case: four of them joined Republicans to advance Kyle Reardon of Alaska, a district court pick whose nomination moved 16-6.
Senator Dick Durbin, the panel's top Democrat, accused Republicans of cutting corners after the midterms to jam through the remaining nominees during the lame-duck session — holding hearings in back-to-back weeks, considering nominees less than 28 days after receiving their paperwork, and proceeding even when FBI background checks had not been cleared by Senate staff. "Why?" Durbin said, per Reuters. "Because Republicans are losing the majority and they are afraid that unqualified MAGA loyalists won't withstand close scrutiny when Democrats are in the majority."
The committee also held a hearing for four additional nominees, including Todd Butler, a Phelps Dunbar partner nominated to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — the circuit that hears Texas's federal appeals. More nominees are expected on November 18, including two in Texas who were put forward only after Democrats won the November 3 midterms. If confirmed by the full Senate, Tuesday's class would add to the 56 lifetime judicial appointments Trump has made in his second term, after 234 in his first, Reuters reported.
