Senate Set to Vote on Judicial Nominees

The Senate is set to vote on one circuit and four district judicial nominees today, its first potential confirmations since Dec. 18.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized the Judiciary Committee today for its “glacial pace” in bringing nominees to the Senate floor. McConnell said today’s nominees “may be it for a while” due to the committee’s pace and took particular issue with Fourth Circuit vacancies.

“It’s not as if the committee has been otherwise occupied,” McConnell said on the Senate floor today. “These nominees meet the chairman’s own criteria for prompt consideration. Nevertheless, they have been inexplicably languishing in the committee for hundreds of days while the Fourth Circuit is one-third vacant.”

The Senate last considered a judicial nominee on Dec. 18, when it confirmed Daniel Tinder as a 7th Circuit judge.