Congress

Dems fight to Trump-proof the federal judiciary

Published

1 year ago

December 21, 2024

Democrats on Friday hit a major milestone, confirming more judges under President Joe Biden than Republicans did in President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. It deprives Trump of putting a bigger conservative stamp on the judiciary — and Democrats will have leverage to continue fighting next year.

Senate Democrats, despite a narrow majority, have approved 235 of Biden’s judicial picks, eclipsing the 234 judicial nominations Trump got through in his first term. Biden has now appointed a range of judges amounting to about a fourth of the overall federal judiciary.

In a move that could further dent Trump’s judicial impact even with a GOP Senate majority, Democrats are poised to put pressure on Republicans to maintain a practice that requires sign-off from a state’s two senators for lower-level spots on the federal bench.

Top Judiciary Committee Democrats who vet judicial nominations, like outgoing Chair Dick Durbin of Illinois, declined to drop the “blue slip” tradition over the past two years, despite pressure from the party — and are now urging Republicans to do the same.

Asked if he intends to maintain the practice, incoming Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) responded simply: “Yes.”

That’s a boon for Democrats. Because of population size, there are more judicial slots in larger blue states like California, New York and Illinois — ones that will require two Democratic sign-offs for the Trump administration to fill. Plus, a deal that would have expanded the number of federal judgeships and given Republicans slots to fill is on the verge of getting a Biden veto.

“There are way more district judges in Democratic states than there are in Republican states,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee. “For us to let the district court blue slip go would create a real structural problem over the long haul, so Chairman Durbin did absolutely the right thing to hold that.”

Democrats hope filling district court slots with less conservative picks will provide a first line of defense against Trump administration policies as the party braces for the incoming president and other Republicans to enact a multitude of new policies, via executive orders and otherwise.

Court decisions could have critical implications for abortion rights, student loan forgiveness, climate change and more. While cases can rise up to appeal courts and beyond, district courts tend to have the first say on challenges to federal policies.

Even Republicans begrudgingly acknowledge Durbin has run an efficient and aggressive operation in filling vacancies over the last four years.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

“Dick Durbin has sadly been very effective. He’s been very good. I wish he hadn’t been,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview. “He’s run the committee really, really efficiently.”

Democrats largely cleared the decks: There are just 36 current federal court vacancies and 11 future ones as judges announce planned retirements. By comparison, Trump began his first term in 2017 with an astounding 112 vacancies and 15 future ones.

Biden started his term with 49 current vacancies and five future ones to consider for the federal bench.

Trump may, of course, have the most consequential last laugh at the Supreme Court. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — both in their 70s — are on the retirement watch list. Nominating replacements for either or both of those conservative justices would offer Trump the chance to further cement a decades-long conservative mark on the court. And they’re not the only justices on the retirement watch list; progressive groups launched an unsuccessful pressure campaign following Trump’s win for liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step aside, wary the 70-year-old could create another opening for Trump to tilt the court further rightward.

He already got to fill three vacancies during his first term, meaning about half the court would be his appointees if either or both justices retire.

Plus there are other large states that see a lot of openings, like Texas and Florida, where Trump will have two GOP senators to sign off on his preferred picks.

“I can’t wait for President Trump to nominate some more judges — to me that was one of his great legacies,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee.

Trump could have come in with a slate of additional judicial openings to fill under a bipartisan deal struck this term, but it now looks unlikely. The Senate earlier this year unanimously approved a bill to add 66 district court judgeships over the next three presidential terms, with advocates saying they wanted to clear it before the 2024 election so neither Republicans nor Democrats would know which party stood to immediately gain from it. But House Republicans waited until after the election to pass it, and Biden has indicated he plans to veto it.

But another deal on judges did make it through — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck an agreement with Republicans to let four appeals court slots stay open until next year in exchange for GOP senators allowing quick consideration for a dozen district court judges.

Democrats have said they didn’t have the support for those confirmations anyway. And one of those appeals court jurists later backed out of his stated intention to retire, prompting anger from Republicans.

Despite that, half a dozen GOP senators told Blue Light News they came out on top of that agreement. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), a Judiciary member who’s close to Trump, called it a “good deal.”

Senate Democrats are no stranger to criticism for how they’ve handled judicial openings, but Durbin noted they managed to break Trump’s record despite a narrow number advantage in the chamber.

“Two years, we’ve had a tied Senate and a tied committee, [and] we reported out almost 100 judges,” Durbin said. “Pretty good, huh? You can’t say yes, but I’ll say it for you: Pretty damn good.”

Republicans insist they’re raring to go at confirming more of Trump’s judicial picks — and they’ll take cues from Durbin as they aim to leave no slot unfilled.

“All I can say is: I hope Republicans will look at what he’s done in these last four years,” Hawley said.

Congress

Senate to confirm Jay Clayton as soon as Thursday

Published

38 minutes ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate could vote as soon as Thursday on Jay Clayton’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence — a lightning speed pace that will necessitate buy-in from all 100 senators.

Confirming Clayton could help shore up enough votes from Democrats to extend a government surveillance program that expired last Friday over opposition to Trump’s pick for acting director, Bill Pulte.

“He will come out of the committee Thursday, at least hopefully, and then if we get consent, we can move,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview Monday about Clayton, who Trump only nominated for the job late last week.

Democrats “ought to be happy with Clayton,” said Thune, adding that he’s a “good” and “solid” pick.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, floated Sunday to CBS News that Clayton could be confirmed this week if every senator cooperates.

Senate Intelligence will hold a hearing Wednesday on Clayton’s nomination. If every member of the panel agrees, he could then get a committee vote Thursday. Confirming Clayton on the Senate floor hours later would require getting agreement from every senator to speed up the process. Opposition from a single member will punt Clayton’s confirmation to next week.

Confirming Clayton Thursday would, crucially, limit — and potentially circumvent — Pulte from becoming acting director of national intelligence, which Trump has slated to take place Friday, June 19.

The president’s decision to put Pulte in charge after Tulsi Gabbard’s departure at the helm of the Office of National Intelligence sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats saying they will withhold support for extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Pulte is in the acting role. Congress allowed the key government spy authority lapse last Friday without a deal.

Trump threw another curveball into a FISA extension over the weekend when he posted on social media that he was against reauthorizing Section 702 unless a GOP elections bill is attached. That bill, known as the SAVE America Act, does not have the votes to get through Congress.

Thune threw cold water Monday on tying the two issues together.

“Yeah, he’s, as you know, passionate about getting that done and wants to use every opportunity to take a shot at it,” Thune said of Trump and his desire to enact the elections bill.

But, Thune said, “we can’t get FISA done” if the policies are linked.

Congress

Senate eyes vote on updated housing affordability legislation

Published

3 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning to put an updated version of a bipartisan housing affordability bill on the Senate floor for a vote this week, according to two people familiar with the bill dynamics and two Senate Democratic aides granted anonymity to discuss ongoing plans.

The version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that the Senate will vote on will include most of the House-passed language, including a provision restricting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The legislation would also add back Senate bills that were dropped from the House package that passed last month, the two people and the two aides said.

The Senate legislation comes after talks between Thune, Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The updated Senate package was also discussed with the House and the White House, the aides said.

Still, it’s unclear if House leadership and the White House have signed off on the legislation.

The Senate and House have gone back and forth for months on language for a housing affordability bill as lawmakers on both sides look for a win to tout during a midterm election season dominated by cost-of-living issues.

Both chambers overwhelmingly passed their own versions of the housing bill — the Senate 89-10 in March, and the House 396-13 in May. The White House supported the Senate-passed bill and then backed the House-passed bill after it retained most of the Senate’s language on reining in private equity and other large Wall Street investors in the housing market — a top priority for President Donald Trump.

The Senate’s updated legislation would remove two of the House’s community banking deregulation bills due to budget scoring concerns, said two of the people familiar: two bills that would modify the Federal Deposit Insurance Act around failed insured depository institutions. The Senate bill also added back a provision to authorize the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program for seven years, as opposed to a permanent reauthorization in the Senate’s March legislation.

The Senate additionally re-inserted several upper-chamber priorities, including the BUILD NOW Act, which would incentivize communities to build more housing through the Community Development Block Grant program; the Rental Assistance Demonstration bill, which would raise the cap on housing authorities to convert voucher-based assistance; the Moving to Work bill, which would aim to add a new cohort of MTW public housing agencies; and the VALID Act, which would require Federal Housing Administration mortgage disclosures to include cost comparison information for veterans.

The package retains core wins for the leaders of both the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees and their members and reflects input from all four leaders of those panels, one of the people familiar said.

Congress

Capitol Agenda: The new faces of the Freedom Caucus

Published

6 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Freedom Caucus is suddenly confronting an unsettled future after more than a decade at the center of GOP politics on Capitol Hill.

Some of its most prominent members are leaving Congress next year after seeking higher office, including former chair Rep. Andy Biggs and several media-friendly voices like Reps. Chip Roy, Byron Donalds and Ralph Norman.

Meanwhile, the group’s current chair, Rep. Andy Harris, is term-limited.

Who will step in to fill the shuffling ranks and maintain the caucus’ role as a hard-right vanguard is very much in question — especially as the group faces a potential shift to a Democratic House majority, which has historically made them less pivotal, and the looming transition to a Republican Party without a President Donald Trump.

The group — which is no stranger to reinventing itself — has a number of relatively unknown members ready to become the new faces of the hard right in the House.

— ERIC BURLISON: The second-term Missouri congressman and current HFC board member said he is considering running to be the next chair.

Last summer he was a vocal member demanding the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and has become a leading Republican pushing for more information on UFOs.

— ANDREW CLYDE: Another board member, Clyde has amassed significant power by Freedom Caucus standards by winning seats on the Appropriations and Budget panels.

He said in an interview he had not yet thought about running for chair but noted that “you don’t have to be the chairman to have outsized influence.”

— BRANDON GILL: This Texas freshman, the youngest sitting House Republican, is already seen as a rising star in the House GOP.

He’s made a name for himself through provocative social media posts and splashy legislative moves, such as seeking to impeach James Boasberg, the federal judge who ruled against some of Trump’s deportations last year.

Gill has said he wants to emulate Rep. Jim Jordan, the only founding member of the caucus still serving in the chamber.

— CLAY HIGGINS: Another board member and a more senior member of the group, Higgins said he has not ruled out seeking the chair post but is also “not interested in campaigning” for the job.

Higgins was the only lawmaker to oppose the release of the Epstein files. He said in an interview he’s hoping the group focuses more on policymaking in its next iteration rather than obstructing leadership prerogatives.

— ANDY OGLES: Inside the HFC, Ogles has emerged as a serious force over two terms, with his name floated for chair even before the end of his first term.

He also did not rule out running for chair or another caucus leadership position in a recent interview.

What else we’re watching:

— THUNE RACES TO BREAK SPY POWERS LOGJAM: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is racing to try to confirm the next director of national intelligence and end a stand off over extending a key surveillance power before members break for two weeks. The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing for Jay Clayton Wednesday — less than a week after the chamber formally received the nomination from the White House. Getting Clayton confirmed is a crucial step to unlocking Congress’ willingness to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

— ANTI-FRAUD OPTIONS FOR RECONCILIATION 3.0: Republican leaders say proposals to crack down on fraud in federal safety net programs could be included in another reconciliation package this year. Turns out, a menu of options is developing in plain sight: Just look at the stack of about a dozen bills the House has passed in recent weeks to prevent waste and abuse.

Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.