Republicans Race to Confirm Trump Judges as GOP Infighting Stalls Picks

Republicans have roughly six weeks to push through about two dozen of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees before Democrats seize the Senate gavel in January. The first post-election Judiciary Committee meeting on Tuesday opened with Chair Chuck Grassley and top Democrat Dick Durbin trading blows over how far the GOP will go to speed things up. Republican whip John Barrasso promised the floor schedule will be packed: 'We're going to make every second count, and that means all these judicial appointments.'

The calendar isn't the only obstacle. Plans to vote Tuesday on two Oklahoma federal court nominees collapsed over opposition to Zachary West from his own state's junior Republican senator, Alan Armstrong, according to CNN's source on the process. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis is backing Armstrong, and since Tillis sits on the committee, West would struggle to advance. The White House is sticking with him, an official telling CNN the president picked 'two highly qualified nominees' and is 'confident they will be confirmed.'

By Tuesday night, the White House had already reversed course on an Arkansas seat on the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals after the state's senators balked. US District Judge Lee Rudofsky, a conservative legal movement favorite who had already cleared his hearing, was out. In his place: Arkansas Supreme Court Justice J. Cody Hiland, who now needs a fresh hearing. The seat matters because filling it would give Trump appointees a majority on that court, a committee spokesperson telling CNN the panel is 'carefully vetting' Hiland.

Texas shows the same squeeze from the other direction. On November 4, Sen. Ted Cruz called a top Justice Department lawyer about a seat after the state elected Democrat James Talarico, who will hold veto power over district court nominees. Less than a week later, Trump announced T. Elliot Gaiser, head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel. Sen. John Cornyn told the AP he had concerns about the White House trying to 'air-drop' someone into the vacancy; Democrats note Gaiser's Texas ties amount to a Houston clerkship.

Conservative lawyers are grumbling that local politics keep producing weaker picks. South Texas College of Law professor Joshua Blackman said Trump 'will roll over for the state senators,' adding: 'And we have the picks who probably are not the best picks as a result.' He pointed to the 5th Circuit's Mississippi seat, where Todd Butler has Sen. Roger Wicker's backing but isn't seen as a reliable conservative vote. Blackman said the movement wanted someone like Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, who argued the Supreme Court case that overturned nationwide abortion protections.

Grassley has previewed an all-gas approach, arguing Democrats plan to block any Trump nominee once they take over. 'They're planning to stonewall a president's ability to appoint judges – now that is what is unprecedented,' he said Tuesday. Mississippi's Senate flip, where Democrat Scott Colom is projected to beat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, adds to the pressure — Colom ran for the seat after Hyde-Smith blocked his Biden-era judgeship nomination.