Since President Trump resumed office, leftists have rushed to the courts in a desperate attempt to stop — or at least delay — his agenda. To defeat this legal practice, President Trump needs the Senate’s help to put constitutionalists on the bench. The Democratic senators’ obstruction is not surprising; No one has even voted for any of President Trump’s appeals court nominees yet. However, many Republican senators are lagging behind in streamlining the nominations. The most severe slump is in filling district court vacancies in deep-red states, especially Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. With the midterms fast approaching, this glacial pace must accelerate in the short term.
District courts are the engines of the federal judiciary, and vacancies there cause immediate and tangible harm. These courts handle the bulk of federal litigation, from immigration to criminal charges and constitutional issues. Yet confirming district judges often proves more difficult than confirming Supreme Court justices. The problem lies in the blue slip process. Home state senators have a de facto veto over district court nominees, U.S. attorney nominees and U.S. marshal nominees.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., warned that quashing blue slips would be a bad move as the Senate moves quickly to confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
For more than a century, U.S. senators have had the power to select the U.S. attorneys who can prosecute them, U.S. district judges who can oversee their trials, and U.S. marshals who can escort them to prison. Senators will never give up this veto. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a lame-duck Republican who sits on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, made it crystal clear that he will oppose any candidate who lacks the support of both home-state senators. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley cannot do anything about the blue-slip obstruction when even one Republican on the committee can work with Democrats to block any nominee.
There are roughly 15 vacancies in district courts in states with at least one Democratic senator. Since the blue slip isn’t going anywhere, President Trump is unlikely to be able to fill many of these vacancies. The Democrats are more obstructionist than ever. Just a few months ago, they caused the longest government shutdown in our history.
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The far more troubling problem is the sheer number of vacancies in states represented by two Republican senators. Staggeringly, there are nearly two dozen district court vacancies in red states (i.e., states with two Republican senators). The most serious vacancy crises are in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. For example, there are seven vacancies in the various judicial districts of Texas. Texas faces a tremendous amount of immigration disputes because it is a border state. There is no excuse for a deep-red state like Texas, which President Trump won by 14%, to have seven vacancies.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, heads the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Unfortunately, Texas is not alone when it comes to an unacceptably slow pace of filling vacancies. Other deep-red states combined have more than a dozen: one each in South Carolina, Louisiana, Alaska and Alabama; two each in Ohio, Oklahoma and Florida; and three in Kansas. President Trump won each of these states by double digits and most by more than 20%. These states deserve judges who are strong constitutionalists, in line with President Trump’s vision of the law.
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When Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer resumes the position of majority leader next year, he will bring Trump’s judicial confirmation train to a halt. Grassley is a workhorse, so it’s certain he will quickly streamline President Trump’s nominees through the process this year. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has shown remarkable efficiency in quickly confirming nominees. There are no more judicial nominees on the Senate agenda. There are only four members left on the Judiciary Committee, and they just had their confirmation hearing last week, meaning they will be speaking and ready for a vote by the end of the month. Leader Thune and Grassley cannot process nominations if there are no nominees.
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Home state Republican senators must focus on this critical task and understand the urgency of the moment. Because the Senate only meets 3.5 days a week in most weeks, speaking time is limited. Should a Supreme Court vacancy arise, the Judiciary Committee’s time and resources must be overwhelmingly invested in confirming President Trump’s nominee. Delay is a recipe for disastrous defeat, and it must end immediately.
Republican senators must act to fill judicial vacancies.
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