President-elect Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to show up for votes on Wednesday after several skipped a vote this week that allowed Senate Democrats to appoint a leftist judge to a lifetime position on the federal courts.
Senators confirmed Embry Kidd to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 49-45 vote after five Republican senators, including his closest allies — Sens. JD Vance (OH), Mike Braun (IN), Marco Rubio (FL), Steve Daines (MT), and Bill Hagerty (TN) — did not show up for the vote.
“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door,” Trump posted on X. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), who was recently elected to be the Senate Majority Leader when the new Congress takes over in January, initiated a plan this week to slow down how many judges Senate Democrats would be able to confirm in their finals days in the majority.
The plan involves invoking “procedural maneuvers” on the Senate floor that will “significantly delay votes” on the judges during the final days of the 118th Congress, Fox News reported.
The move will limit the number of judges that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is able to ram through before the new Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2025.
“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune said in a statement.
The statement from Trump comes after prominent Republicans such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board called out the senators for not showing up and opposing the nominees.
“This leftist judge would have been voted down and the seat on the important 11th circuit would have been filled by Donald Trump next year had Republicans showed up,” DeSantis posted on X.
“Now, the leftist judge will have a lifetime appointment and the people of FL, AL and GA will suffer the consequences,” he added.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board slammed the senators, saying that their “main value” for the remainder of the lame-duck session was “blocking bad legislation and stopping President Biden’s judicial nominees when possible.”
“A few good GOP excuses can mean a lifetime on the bench,” they wrote. “Republican Senators have a duty in the lame duck to show up for these votes. Any judicial vacancy that goes unfilled now will be Mr. Trump’s to nominate someone to fill.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said that when Republicans do not show up to vote, “we lose.”
“I don’t care what the reasons were,” he said. “We have fewer than 15 scheduled legislative days. You have to show up. Period. End of story. There’s nothing more important.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), when asked about how frustrated he was over what happened, said: “On a scale of 1 to 10, a 12.”
“Because a number of President Biden’s nominees, particularly at the courts of appeal, they think they’re qualified to be a federal judge if they’ve seen ‘My Cousin Vinny,’ and I don’t agree with them,” he said.
“Their performance in committee demonstrated that none of them were Oliver, Wendell, or Scalia,” he continued. “They did horrible jobs in committee, and we had the votes to prevent them from being confirmed, but some of the folks on our side couldn’t be here, and it’s frustrating.”
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