Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, fired off the perfect response after Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) asked Republicans to stop confirming President Donald Trump’s federal judiciary nominees.
What’s the background?
Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote Graham on Thursday requesting he stop conducting hearings on Trump’s judicial nominees to allow media-declared president-elect Joe Biden to fill the court vacancies instead.
“Now that the 2020 election has concluded, it is clear that the American people have overwhelmingly rejected a second term for President Trump. President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris are already implementing their transition plan,” Feinstein said.
“In light of that, it is imperative that the Judiciary Committee cease to process judicial nominations and allow President-Elect Biden the opportunity to appoint judges following his inauguration on January 20, 2021,” she added.
What was Graham’s response?
Graham responded with a resounding “no,” according to reporter Sam Brodey.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee will continue to process judges nominated by President Trump. We have confirmed over 220 and look forward to confirming even more,” Graham said.
Update here—comment from Sen. Graham’s spox on the Feinstein letter:
“The Senate Judiciary Committee will continue… https://t.co/TaHiRxT0DI
— Sam Brodey (@Sam Brodey)1605227677.0
What’s the background?
In addition to having three Supreme Court nominees confirmed, Trump has added a whopping 53 judges to U.S. federal appeals courts and 164 judges to federal district courts.
Currently, an additional 31 of Trump’s federal district nominees are awaiting confirmation, and another two of Trump’s appeals court judges are awaiting confirmation.
This is why analysts predict that as much as $1 billion could be spent on Georgia’s two runoff elections for their U.S. Senate seats, for control of the Senate hinges on those two races.
Currently, Republicans — who have held a majority in the Senate since regaining the majority after the 2014 midterms — have control of 50 seats. If they lost both runoff races, Democrats would have effective control of the Senate since media-declared vice president-elect Kamala Harris would serve as the Senate’s tie-breaking vote.
But, if Republicans win just one of the races, they would maintain control of the Senate and prevent a Biden administration from implementing its agenda — and further cement Trump’s judicial legacy.