Senate showdown: GOP secures deal with Schumer to save coveted appellate judges for Trump

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Democrats and Republicans struck a late-night deal on judicial votes and confirmations on Wednesday, securing the ability for President-elect Trump to appoint four crucial appellate court judges in his second administration. 

As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attempts to push through as many President Biden judicial picks as possible, Republicans in the upper chamber have worked to delay the process by using procedural floor maneuvers, causing several late nights.

Around midnight on Wednesday, the parties came to an agreement which would allow Democrats to hold votes on four district court judges in exchange for pulling four higher tier circuit court judicial nominees, a senior GOP Senate source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital. 

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These four vacancies will now be Trump's to fill, per the deal, the source said. 

However, a Senate Democrat leadership aide familiar with the agreement said the deal that was reached allowed for the Senate to vote on cloture on nine district court judges this week, and vote to confirm them when they return after Thanksgiving. The aide rejected the GOP source's framing of the agreement that the trade was four district judges for four circuit court judges.

"The trade was four circuit nominees — all lacking the votes to get confirmed — for more than triple the number of additional judges moving forward," a spokesperson for Schumer said in a statement.

A Democrat source familiar also made the point to Fox News Digital that only two of the circuit court vacancies are certain, and the other two may ultimately decide against taking senior judge status.

Around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Schumer's office said, "The Senate has reached a time agreement to invoke cloture on four judicial nominations tonight and have three more votes tomorrow."

The senior GOP source told Fox News Digital that Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., were both key figures in securing the near-midnight deal. 

The office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

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The deal was primarily motivated by a Senate slowdown initiated by Republicans through procedural maneuvers on Monday night, which was spearheaded by Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who was recently elected as the next Republican Senate leader. The delay tactic plan came in response to Schumer's efforts to stack additional judicial confirmation votes on the calendar ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

"If Sen. Schumer thought Senate Republicans would just roll over and allow him to quickly confirm multiple Biden-appointed judges to lifetime jobs in the final weeks of the Democrat majority, he thought wrong," Thune told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement at the time. 

By objecting to Democrats' unanimous consent requests in order to file cloture on the Biden nominees, Republicans were adding additional votes to the schedule, taking up a substantial amount of time and forcing senators to spend all night at the Capitol.

The source noted to Fox News Digital that the new deal did not mean Republicans were going to allow the Biden district judges to sail through without opposition. GOP senators are still expected to fight and vote against the Democrat-nominated judges as they have done throughout Biden's term.  

At the center of the deal was Republicans agreeing not to stall the Senate's votes on cloture or confirmation for the nine district judge confirmations by denying unanimous consent, the Democrat aide explained. 

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Ahead of Trump taking office and a new congressional term starting in January with Republicans in the Senate majority, Democrats are in a race to the finish line to push through as many of President Biden's judicial nominations as possible. As of Wednesday night, Biden's judicial confirmation count went up to 220 — still trailing behind Trump's 234 confirmed Article III judges during his first term. 

Schumer's effort to push through Biden judges quickly during the lame duck session has already drawn the ire of Trump. 

He recently took to social media to call for a halt to judicial confirmations for the remainder of the session, writing on social media on Wednesday, "The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door. Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line — No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!"

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"In his first term, President Trump appointed constitutionalist judges who interpret the law as written. He will do so again," Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Brian Hughes told Fox News Digital in a statement last week.