Biden administration working with GOP to advance judicial nominees amid Feinstein absence

The White House is reaching across the aisle to secure bipartisan support for its judicial nominees as the administration and Democrats seek to navigate the extended absence of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) from the Judiciary Committee.

White House officials have been working with senators in both parties to fill judicial vacancies, with chief of staff Jeff Zients and legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell among those who have spoken with lawmakers about vacancies in their states.

The administration is urging senators to identify people in their states for possible judicial openings, and officials are calling on the Senate to “continue to move expeditiously to consider highly qualified, confirmable candidates.”

A White House official pointed to a string of recent bipartisan votes to advance President Biden’s nominees, including the confirmation of Matthew Brookman to serve as a district court judge in Indiana and the vote to advance Amanda Brailsford as a district court judge in Idaho. Both judges have the support of their respective home state Republican senators.

Biden has also put forward nominees for judicial vacancies in Texas and Louisiana in recent weeks with the support of the GOP senators in those states.

The efforts to secure bipartisan support come as confirming judges without Republican votes has become more complicated in the absence of Feinstein, who has been out of the Senate for several weeks as she recovers from the shingles.

The Judiciary Committee late last month advanced seven nominees with bipartisan support, while declining to do so for several others who will need the support of Feinstein to proceed. Democrats hold an 11-10 advantage on the panel, but it has been deadlocked at 10-10 while Feinstein has been away from the chamber.

The White House must also deal with some Republican senators who have blocked nominees by refusing to return a “blue slip,” an old Judiciary Committee tradition that requires both senators from the nominee’s home state to return the slips before a confirmation hearing.

The Senate has confirmed 122 federal judges since Biden took office.

Biden on Wednesday announced four more nominees for federal judicial vacancies in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan and Washington, D.C.

If confirmed, Judge Loren L. AliKhan would be the first South Asian woman to serve on the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. Susan K. DeClercq would be the first federal judge of East Asian descent in Michigan.