Trump rages as absent Senate Republicans help confirm Biden judges
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
President-elect Trump is demanding that Senate Republicans show up and try to stop Democrats from confirming more judges.
Why it matters: President Biden is now 15 judicial confirmations away from the record set by Trump in his first term.
- Trump posted Wednesday on "X": "The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door. Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!"
Democrats confirmed two more judges on Wednesday by 50-48 margins, with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Braun (Indiana) missing the votes.
- If they'd voted, Vice President Harris would have been unavailable to break the 50-50 tie as she's currently vacationing in Hawaii.
- Cruz arrived back in D.C. on Wednesday, leaving Braun as the only member still absent.
- The issue came up in a GOP lunch on Wednesday. Senators discussed whether there was a way for him to resign and someone to fill his seat faster. Braun was elected governor of Indiana in November.
"I am very angry – 90% of success in life is showing up," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters.
- "I've got a 4th Circuit nominee that if my colleagues show up on my side I've secured Democratic votes to defeat. That is very personal to me," he said.
- "I had a member ask me, 'Well, when is the vote?' I said, 'When you're not here,'" Tillis told reporters.
Zoom in: Senate Republicans, including incoming Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are in a showdown over judges with outgoing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
- Thune unveiled a plan Monday to aggressively defend against Biden's final nominees, Axios has reported.
- Schumer is prepared to grind through that defense with late night and weekend votes.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more reporting.
