Several Republican senators are complicating the White House's plan to confirm President Donald Trump's judicial nominees in the final weeks of the Republican Senate majority, throwing up obstacles for picks in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, the Associated Press reported.
The White House withdrew Trump's nomination of Arkansas federal district judge Lee Rudofsky to the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday, after Republican senators raised objections. Arkansas Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton had not endorsed Rudofsky and were believed to favour Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Cody Hiland for the vacancy; Trump has now nominated Hiland instead.
Outgoing Texas Senator John Cornyn and retiring North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, privately told committee Chairman Chuck Grassley they would vote against Rudofsky in committee, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Grassley also postponed a key committee vote on Tuesday for Oklahoma judicial nominee Zachary West because of opposition from Tillis on behalf of Senator Alan Armstrong, who withdrew his support for West after earlier giving him the green light.
In Texas, Cornyn has expressed reservations about T. Elliot Gaiser, a top Justice Department official nominated for a federal judgeship in the Dallas area. Tillis said he wants senators and their views on prospective judges to be heard by the administration, and told the Washington Examiner he would withhold his vote on other nominees unless their home-state senators sign off. Republicans hold a 12-10 majority on the Judiciary Committee, so a single Republican defection can block a nominee if Democrats are united in opposition.
As of Wednesday, 24 judicial nominations from Trump were pending confirmation in the Senate, according to Grassley's committee. Democrats take control of the Senate in January, leaving the White House only weeks to secure lifetime appointments to the federal bench.
