Senate GOP initiates Thune-engineered slow down as Schumer looks to stack judicial votes

Senate Republicans opted to delay votes and draw out floor action on Monday night after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought to stack additional judicial confirmation votes on the calendar ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Two sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the plan to slow down the Senate was spearheaded by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who was recently elected as the next Republican Senate leader. 

“If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong,” Thune told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. 

In response to the Democrat leader’s decision to file cloture on a number of judicial nominees, which would come up for confirmation votes in a number of days, Republicans plotted procedural maneuvers on the Senate floor to significantly delay votes, multiple GOP sources told Fox News. 

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Republicans sought to delay Democrats’ cloture filings on Monday as they look to quickly confirm Biden judges.  (Reuters)

The additional cloture filings by Schumer come as Democrats are focusing their efforts on confirming as many judges nominated by President Biden as they can in the time they have left in the majority. 

During the first procedural vote of the evening, a source familiar told Fox News, “it could be a late night.”

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Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, speaks during a news conference following Senate Republican policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021.  (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In order to file cloture on a nomination, the Senate needs to transition from legislative session to executive session. This is typically done by unanimous consent from the Senate. But on Monday evening, Republicans began objecting to the requests for unanimous consent. 

When a senator objects, it requires the transition between executive and legislative sessions to be voted on. 

By objecting to Democrats’ unanimous consent requests in order to file cloture on the Biden nominees, Republicans are adding additional votes to the schedule, taking up a substantial amount of time. 

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., motions to President Biden after he delivered remarks at an event on June 18, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Schumer’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

In floor remarks on Monday, Schumer emphasized that Democrats are prioritizing judges in the lame duck session. 

“The judges we’ve confirmed represent perhaps the widest range of backgrounds and experiences ever seen under any president. We have more judges that worked as public defenders, legal aid attorneys, civil rights lawyers, federal prosecutors, voting rights lawyers, and more women and people of color than we’ve ever had under one Administration,” he said of the 215 nominees that have already been confirmed. 

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., departs a news conference on Capitol Hill on July 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

 “After we vote today, we’ll keep going. Tonight, I will file on additional judges who we will move forward on the floor this week.”

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“So, let me repeat: the Senate is going to keep prioritizing judicial and administrative confirmations this week, this month, and for the rest of this year,” he said. 

During Biden’s term, his administration has sought to surpass President-elect Donald Trump’s first-term legacy of 234 confirmed Article III judicial nominees. And as Democrats look down the barrel of a Republican trifecta in Washington, D.C., controlling the House, Senate, and White House, they appear more energized than ever to push Biden’s judges through and potentially beat Trump’s number.