McConnell’s “confirmation frenzy”

Senate Majority Leader McConnell today filed cloture motions to advance the confirmation of four of President Trump’s court of appeals nominees. The nominees are Allison Eid (10th Circuit); Stephanos Bibas (3rd Circuit); Joan Larsen (6th Circuit); and Amy Coney Barrett (7th Circuit). Eid and Larsen were on the list of potential Supreme Court nominees then-candidate Trump came up with during the campaign. Barrett is the nominee attacked by Democrats as too Catholic.

The filing of the motions means that these nominees will be voted on, and surely confirmed, next week. More votes on nominees are expected soon, in what Politico chooses to call “a confirmation frenzy.”

McConnell and GOP Senate Republicans have received criticism from some on the right for not confirming judges quickly enough. However, Politico says “Trump already has gotten more judges installed at this point in his presidency than his predecessor.” I’m told, moreover, that when the dust clears, Trump is virtually certain to deliver more Court of Appeals judges during his first year than any of his five predecessors.

Credit belongs to Trump, McConnell, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley. It’s also worth noting that Trump’s nominees are being confirmed via the votes of the entire GOP caucus. This includes the much maligned Senators Corker and Flake — the latter a member of the Judiciary Committee — who, for that matter, have voted with the rest of the majority, and with Trump, on virtually everything that’s come up in the Senate.

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