Senate reaches deal on stalled Biden judicial nominees

The Senate announced a deal Thursday to complete work on seven of President Biden’s nine stalled judicial nominees, who sparked an intense fight on the Senate floor this week.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide familiar with the agreement said the Senate will finish confirming all of the judges that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought to the floor this week after the Thanksgiving recess.

Under the agreement reached, the Senate will vote on confirming Sparkle Sooknanan to serve as district judge for the District of Columbia, Brian Edward Murphy to serve as district judge for the District of Massachusetts and Anne Hwang to serve as district judge for the Central District of California after the Thanksgiving break.

The Senate will also hold final votes on Cynthia Valenzuela Dixon to be district judge for the Central District of California, Catherine Henry to be district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Noel Wise to be district judge for the Northern District of California and Gail Weilheimer to be district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The deal set the stage for the Senate to recess for Thanksgiving. Senators will reconvene on Dec. 2 to vote on Hwang.

Schumer’s plan to advance nine Biden judicial nominees caught Senate Republicans off guard on Monday, prompting an angry response.

GOP senators refused to waive the votes on switching between executive and legislative session to make it as difficult and time-consuming as possible for Schumer to schedule preliminary votes on the nominees.

The Senate spent nearly six hours on 18 procedural votes Monday evening, working up until midnight to advance the batch of nominees.

Senators worked late again on Wednesday to process the nominees after Republicans again refused to waive procedural hurdles.

After a week of late nights, however, senators were ready to cut a deal Thursday to finish work on them after Thanksgiving.  

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out six more Biden judicial nominees with favorable recommendations, setting them up for floor action next month.

They are Anthony Brindisi to be district judge for the Northern District of New York, Elizabeth Coombe to be district judge for the Northern District of New York, Sarah Morgan Davenport to be district judge for the District of New Mexico, Tiffany Rene Johnson to be district judge for the Northern District of Georgia, Keli Marie Neary to be district judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and Miranda Holloway-Baggett to be U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Alabama.