Senate Dems eye Trump's tally for judicial confirmations

• But if Democrats hold their Senate majority and keep the White House in November, it gives them a longer runway to confirm Democratic nominations.
• President Biden and former President Trump have confirmed the exact same number of federal judges — 205— at this point in their terms.
• If they lose the Senate, it will be a race against time for Schumer to confirm judicial nominations before a new Congress is sworn in.

Zoom in: Senate Democrats are scheduled to have just 24 days in session before the November election, and they expect much of that to be dominated by judicial nominations.

• The Senate must also deal with a massive annual defense authorization bill before the end of the year, but that is one of the only must-pass measures that needs to get floor time in the Senate.
• Senators are out of Washington for the entirety of August and October.

Yes, but: If Democrats keep control of the Senate and the White House, the pressure will be off Schumer to ram as many nominations through the chamber before Biden leaves office.

• Instead, Schumer and Senate Democrats can look to at least two years of runway to confirm judges nominated by another Democratic president.

The bottom line: While the presidential race looks like a toss-up, Democrats are very unlikely to keep hold of their Senate majority because of a tough electoral map this year.

• There will be intense urgency from Schumer to confirm judges before a new Congress is sworn in if they lose control of the Senate in November, with very limited time.
• The Senate is scheduled to be in session for three weeks in December.