In a surprising move, a number of GOP senators have teamed up with their Democratic counterparts to move forward with President Joe Biden’s nominees for lifetime appointments to federal courts. This is certain to ruffle the feathers of the Republican voter base.
According to The Epoch Times, on April 20, the Senate Judiciary Committee discharged seven nominees from President Joe Biden. At least one Republican joined all remaining Democrats on the panel to help advance the nominations.
The nominees receiving assistance from GOP senators included Jeffrey Cummings and LaShonda Hunt, nominated for U.S. District Court judgeships in the Northern District of Illinois, and Orelia Merchant, nominated for a U.S. District Court judgeship in the Eastern District of New York.
Michael Farbiarz and Robert Kirsch, nominated for U.S. District Court judgeships in the District of New Jersey, as well as Monica Almadani and Wesley Hsu, nominated for U.S. District Court judgeships in the Central District of California, also received similar help from Republicans to move forward in the nomination process.
Although the Senate is under Democratic control, Republicans still have a say in the nomination process as they have 10 members on the Judiciary panel. However, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been absent since February due to her battle with shingles and requested to be temporarily replaced. Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) blocked her bid.
Despite blocking Feinstein’s temporary replacement, Graham has joined with other Republicans on the committee to help Democrats advance several of Biden’s nominees. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recently stated that he would support nominees who are “mainstream and qualified.”
However, he added that Democrats are unable to push through a “small fraction of their nominees who are so extreme and so unqualified that they cannot win a single Republican vote in committee” due to Feinstein’s absence.