Republicans slow down Senate floor to delay Biden judicial picks

Senate Republicans moved to slow down the pace of judicial nomination confirmations in the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidency on Monday evening, forcing the chamber into hours of routine votes.

What happened? Senators initially confirmed Embry Kidd to an appeals court post by a 49-45 vote on Monday evening. But then the roadblocks began.

Moving between executive session — to consider nominations — and legislative session — to consider bills — is normally done by unanimous consent, but Republicans forced votes on those procedural actions throughout the evening.

Those votes only required a simple majority, so Democrats were able to easily pass them. But they had to stay close to the chamber.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was unbowed by the procedural obstacles. “We'll keep going,” he said Monday on the floor. “The Senate is going to keep prioritizing judicial and administrative confirmations this week, this month, and for the rest of this year.”

As the votes wore on, patience grew short. Schumer vowed to enforce vote time limits, cutting them off after 12 minutes. “It doesn't matter who's here,” he said.

In the end: Schumer made a series of procedural motions to end debate on the following 12 judicial picks.

• Mustafa Kasubhai to be district judge for the District of Oregon
• Sarah Russell to be district judge for the District of Connecticut
• Rebecca Pennell to be district judge for the Eastern District of Washington
• Brian Murphy to be district judge for the District of Massachusetts
• Anne Hwang to be district judge for the Central District of California
• Cynthia Dixon to be district judge for the Central District of California
• Catherine Henry to be district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Sparkle Sooknanan to be district judge for the District of Columbia
• Amir Ali to be district judge for the District of Columbia
• Noël Wise to be district judge for the Northern District of California
• Gail Weilheimer to be district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Sharad Desai to be district judge for the District of Arizona

Remember: President-elect Donald Trump has called on Senate Republicans to block additional judicial confirmations before Biden’s term ends. They can’t do that on their own, but can significantly drag out the process.

Next up: The Senate will be in for votes at 11:30 a.m., with action on some of these judicial picks throughout the day.