Biden Cabinet Confirmation Live Thread ***hearings, votes, etc.***

[Nyvin]

Does Garland even have a committee hearing scheduled yet?   They need to move to confirm him ASAP

[Nyvin]

https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1359300611049738247

Wtf?  March 1st?   That's way too late,  Jeff Sessions was sworn in on Feb 9th for pete sakes!

That's not even for the floor vote either,  UGH!

[Nyvin]

Was the Senator heading the confirmation of Garland new or something?  She seemed like she needed to be walked through every step and sentence.

[Nyvin]

Wow, they're moving fast on those circuit court judges now suddenly!

[Nyvin]

Assuming the above nominee is confirmed this week, that will be Biden's 40th circuit court judge to be confirmed. That would leave three circuit nominees awaiting final confirmation (1st, 3rd, and 4th Circuits).

Since my last post in early December, there have been new seats opening up. Four have announced since the start of the new year, including one on the 6th Circuit just today. Altogether, that will now leave six circuit court judgeships awaiting nominees:

1st: ME
4th: NC
6th: TN(x2)
7th: IL
11th: FL

Needless to say, that's a lot of work to be done by the end of the year (and obviously any lame duck confirmations will depend on the election results). If they're all confirmed by the end of the year, that would be 49. That's pretty remarkable when you consider that Trump got 54 in his four years and McConnell had that as his highest priority (including basically shutting down appellate confirmations during Obama's last two years). I know the Biden Administration tries to work in good faith with Republican Senators, but he needs to know when they're just dragging things out. Blue slips don't apply for circuit court nominees and the White House may need to remind them, particularly for the TN seats.

There's a second vacancy on the 7th?  Is Rovner retiring?   That'll bring the court to 6R-5D

[Nyvin]

Leader Schumer filed cloture on Executive Calendar #461 Nicole G. Berner to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit.

They're skipping over Seth Aframe for the 1st Circuit?  That seems messed up, he'd probably be the easier confirmation of the two.

[Nyvin]

Leader Schumer filed cloture on Executive Calendar #460 Seth Robert Aframe to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit.

Finally!

[Nyvin]

The South Dakota judges were a compromise - Schulte was the Dem judge and Theeler the Republican judge.

Going by the vote counts, apparently some of the Republican Senators weren't happy with the deal.