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

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a diverse slate of 11 judicial nominees, including three African American women for Circuit Court vacancies and a candidate who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim federal judge in US history.

One nominee Biden announced Tuesday is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is picked to fill the seat of Merrick Garland on a powerful DC-based appellate court that is also a breeding ground for potential Supreme Court nominees.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/30/politics/joe-biden-judicial-nominees/index.html

It's difficult to believe that we've never had a single Muslim federal judge before, especially given that we've had a few Hindu and even Zoroastrian ones.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a diverse slate of 11 judicial nominees, including three African American women for Circuit Court vacancies and a candidate who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim federal judge in US history.

One nominee Biden announced Tuesday is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is picked to fill the seat of Merrick Garland on a powerful DC-based appellate court that is also a breeding ground for potential Supreme Court nominees.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/30/politics/joe-biden-judicial-nominees/index.html

It's difficult to believe that we've never had a single Muslim federal judge before, especially given that we've had a few Hindu and even Zoroastrian ones.

Yup, and I'm really exicted for this nomination. That said, religion, gender, sexual orientation or racial identity is secondary to me at best. Qualification and integrity are more important, but it's refreshing Biden making such diverse nominations to administration and judidical appointees.

Not to bronzpost but I also think it's neat that he's a Morristown guy, speaking as someone whose dad is from there and who spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents there when I was growing up.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Also, now that the whole Cabinet (except Lander and whoever the replacement OMB nominee ends up being) is in place, maybe we can change the title of this thread to something like "Biden Nominees Confirmation Live Thread"?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I don't really want Tender to be the only one asking this question, so: Any idea what's going on with the Lander nomination? It's Cabinet-level and the last time I checked no action whatsoever had been taken on it.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1385004611208196099?s=20

And Harris already ties Al Gore for number of tie-breaking votes cast (four), although she's still well behind HW, Cheney, and Pence among recent VPs.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

So it turns out that Lander wasn't just "forgotten," Tender. Consideration of his nomination was delayed as a result of Senators being concerned about his multiple meetings with one Jeffrey Epstein & any potential relationship therewith:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-top-scientist-met-jeffrey-epstein-confirmation-484159

Christ.

Hopefully the conclusion that they've come to that there wasn't much to this relationship is correct.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1450895783277076483

Harris has now cast eleven tie-breaking votes. Two more and she ties her predecessor for the most by any VP since Reconstruction.

The last time the VP cast the deciding vote for final passage on a law was Cheney on the 2003 round of the Bush tax cuts. It'll be interesting to see if Harris ends up doing so on whatever version of Build Back Better Manchin and Synema finally deign to accept.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Wulfric, would you be willing to switch from listing no votes to listing votes that go against the "party line" (whether they're Republican ayes, Democratic nos, or absences)? Your current system makes it hard to tell which Republicans voted in the affirmative if it's something like 52-45 and usual suspects like Murkowski and Romney voted no.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I had no idea Sullenberger had been nominated for a diplomatic position. Interesting.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Is Bathsheba Crocker related to Ryan Crocker?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Rahm Emanuel got confirmed by the hilariously anemic margin of 48-21 as Ambassador to Japan, which is just about the worst cultural fit imaginable. It's like Cellucci as Ambassador to Canada, on steroids and bass-boosted. Japanese society values composure, patience, and in-group solidarity with the people in one's vicinity rather than with strangers with whom one shares some demographic or identity category. Has anyone, anywhere, ever, associated any of those values with the name "Rahm Emanuel"? I doubt it.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

And Harris surges into the all-time top three for number of tie-breaking votes. She needs nine more to beat Calhoun for the most ever.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It's ridiculous that they're doing all this BS today of all days for offices that maybe 5% of Americans have ever even heard of rather than just getting the Ukraine vote over with.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Any news on Michelle Kwan's nomination as Ambassador to Belize? Asking because I'm a figure skating fan, not because the position itself is that important.