At current pace, Democrats can obstruct for 8 weeks on Trump’s pending circuit court nominees

The Senate spent this entire week confirming just five of President Trump’s circuit court picks. At that rate, it would take nearly eight weeks of working every day and doing nothing else — no tax overhaul, no year-end spending bills, no debt increase, no Children’s Health Insurance Program extension — to confirm the 47 other judicial nominees the president has pending.

And if Mr. Trump were to announce nominations for the 100 other federal court vacancies, it would take another four months — through the beginning of May, with the Senate doing nothing else — to confirm them.

Beneath the major policy fights, Republicans and Democrats are locked in a fierce battle in the Senate over the direction of the federal courts. Mr. Trump and his allies are moving with extraordinary speed to put as many of his nominees on the bench as possible, while Democrats have erected an unprecedented level of hurdles, forcing the chamber to spin its wheels for up to 30 hours per nominee under Senate rules.

The outcome is rarely in doubt, with Republicans flexing their majority to confirm nominees without any Democratic support. But the amount of time it’s taking has become a sore spot.

More