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

[Epaminondas]

This is great and all but when are the judges being confirmed? Is there a thread for that?

[Epaminondas]

This may sound naïf, but how on earth is a well-run, competent government not fully staffed 5 months into a 45-month presidency (11%)?

[Epaminondas]

How much longer until all government positions are (practically) filled? Hadn't Obama finished by mid-2009?

[Epaminondas]

No judicial appointments for over a month now, since 7 August, despite 26 nominations pending.

Is the Senate adjourned?
Couldn't they set a rule that they vote on one nominee every week, as a warm up on Monday morning?

[Epaminondas]

Will the judge confirmations resume right after the Georgia runoff?

[Epaminondas]

In January, the Senate can be transformed into an assembly line for judgeships.

[Epaminondas]

Joe Kennedy III will be named Special Envoy to Northern Ireland.

Biden giving JK a political lifeline after his Senate run went up in smoke. What's his backstory with the Kennedies?

[Epaminondas]

Why this change? Is it a custom to replace all the ambassadors named under the predecessor?

[Epaminondas]

It looks like Cardin is the one holding up the 4th Circuit vacancy for the MD seat. Link:

That whole article is quite alarming. Is it just another case of fearmongering Dems-in-Disarray or is there some truth about Blue-state blue slips leaving dozens of judgeships unfilled?

[Epaminondas]

Filling all Circuit Court Judgeships, Blue state district court judgeships, and executive nominations will take up a ton of floor time on its own. Durbin will fill the red state vacancies as he can (and it looks like there is an agreed nominee for an Indiana seat), but I don't expect him to do anything drastic.

What else is the Senate supposed to do? Schumer is the new Grim Reaper for most House bills. We have several circuit court judges from last year, but so far only 5 left to fill. That's with a 30-hour cloture vote. District court judgeships only have a 2-hour cloture vote. We could have circuit courts and blue states done by summer. It's the red states and obstinate split states that are the problem.

There are currently 43 active circuit and district judges appointed by Bill Clinton, who must be getting up in age.
Would the Senate have time to renew that entire cohort, plus vacancies (not to mention the 12 Reagan appointees), in 2 years?

[Epaminondas]

That 8th circuit is bonkers, are dying judges carted in as they await a GOP president to retire?

[Epaminondas]

Still awaiting our first 51-50 confirmation since Jan 2021, aren't we? I read that GOP hardliners were quite upset at Lindsey about his compliance.

[Epaminondas]

It'd been a while, almost 3 weeks. Was there another recess or is the Biden admin too tied up to focus on judicial confirmations?

[Epaminondas]

Shocking how much harder it is to name a Dem judge to the 11th than to any of the more progressive court.

[Epaminondas]

Starting to wonder whether the Cabinet will be fully confirmed by November 2024.
Where. Are. The. Judges.

(either way, thanks for the rundown, Dwarven)

[Epaminondas]

I checked and officially the Senate is still in session, before they take 6 weeks off this weekend.

Does this mean any pending confirmations by Friday will have to wait until mid-September?

[Epaminondas]

Thanks Dwarven.

Now that the House has ground to a halt for the foreseeable future, will the Dem Senate finally knuckle down to appoint the 3 dozen vacant judge seats (going by Wiki), or will they again faff around until next recess?

[Epaminondas]

The Dem Senate has confirmed 8 judges (0 on appeals courts) since recess ended 7 weeks ago.

By contrast, here were the confirmations 4 years ago:
- Sept 2019: 6 judges
- Oct 2019: 5 judges
- Nov 2019: 8 judges
- Dec 2019: 23 judges

It's hard to watch this result without feeling a sense of dread as 2024 approaches. This is the last chance to fill courts with responsible judges for 4-6 years, and Schumer seems lackadaisical about this.

[Epaminondas]

This is quite a sprint, but there's so little time left.

If I've followed correctly, the Senate session breaks on Thursday 15 December, and resumes on 22 January 2024 after a 5 week Xmas holidays?

This would leave exactly 10 working days for 19 oven-ready judges.

[Epaminondas]

Is that it for over a month now?

So no more judges from Schumer, but thank goodness he found time to confirm the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation!

[Epaminondas]

Does this mean the Senate has reconvened a fortnight earlier than announced on their website, which was 22 January?

Good on Chuck.

[Epaminondas]

No change in the past 10 days, is this article from yesterday correct?
https://www.courthousenews.com/biden-announces-5-judicial-2-us-attorney-nominees/