Politics

The Senate Confirmed 13 Trump Judges While America Watched Democrats Debate

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The Senate confirmed 13 judges President Donald Trump chose while America had its eyes on the Democratic primary debates Tuesday and Wednesday.

Though Senate Republicans had initially planned to confirm 19 Trump judges before leaving Washington, D.C., for August recess, they successfully confirmed four nominees Tuesday and nine Wednesday. (RELATED: Trump Keeps Campaign Promise, Picks More Conservative Judges)

“For too long, fairly uncontroversial judicial nominees just like these have been held up and delayed by our Democratic colleagues even when the vacancy qualifies as a judicial emergency,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, The Hill reported.

“Uncontroversial district judges used to be confirmed promptly in big groups by voice vote,” he continued.

Confirmations include the following district court nominees:

Karin Immergut for the District of Oregon, John Milton Younge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Mary M. Rowland for the Northern District of Illinois, Mark Pittman to the Northern District of Texas, Jeffrey Brown to the Southern District of Texas, Brantley Starr to the Northern District of Texas, Martha Pacold to the Northern District of Illinois, Jason Pulliam to the Western District of Texas, William Stickman IV to be the Western District of Pennsylvania, Michael T. Liburdi for the District of Arizona, Peter D. Welte for the District of North Dakota, James Wesley Hendrix for the Northern District of Texas and Sean D. Jordan for the Eastern District of Texas.

Republicans have confirmed more than 100 Trump court picks since 2017, including Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, as well as a record number of appeals court judges.

United States Supreme Court (Front L-R) Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., (Back L-R) Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan and Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh pose for their official portrait at the in the East Conference Room at the Supreme Court building November 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier this month, Chief Justice Roberts publicly defended the independence and integrity of the federal judiciary against President Trump after he called a judge who had ruled against his administration’s asylum policy “an Obama judge.” “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

United States Supreme Court justices are pictured. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump accused Democrats of obstructing his nominees earlier in 2019. (RELATED: Trump Says Senate Shouldn’t ‘Go Home’ Until His Executive Nominees Are Confirmed)

“Democrats in the Senate are still slow walking hundreds of highly qualified people wanting to come into government,” the president said in a February tweet. “Never been such an abuse in our country’s history.”

Sections of the 2019 book “Justice on Trial” by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino reveal how 2016 Trump campaign lawyers consulted with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy in an effort to build a list of prospective Supreme Court nominees ahead of Trump’s election.

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