Senate Democrats snatched one of the biggest tangible prizes of the midterms: control over President Donald Trump’s nominees.
Don’t expect many (if any) of Trump’s picks to move at all. That’s why some Senators such as Rick Scott and Ashley Moody (both R-FL) are demanding that the chamber stay in session every day including the holiday season to confirm as many nominees as possible.
“If the nominees are as crappy as his present ones, very few of them are going to get through. If he sends us a new [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth, I bet he wouldn’t pass the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said prior to the election. “It’s the quality of the candidate that matters. Thus far, Trump has a record of notoriously bad candidates.”
Schumer’s comments confirm that Democratic control of the Senate under Trump will turn the battle to confirm Senate nominees into trench warfare, with committee chairs able to bottle up Trump’s picks easily and Schumer able to simply not put them on the floor. Some expected committee chairs are Elizabeth Warren (D-MA, Banking), Shelton Whitehouse (D-RI, Judiciary), and Mark Warner (D-VA, Intelligence)
Perhaps a small number of district court judges would be confirmed, but Cabinet secretaries and appeals court judges would face long odds. Justice Samuel Olito says he is considering retirement, and there’s also little hope that a Democratic majority would confirm a Supreme Court nominee after then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blockade of Merrick Garland near the end of Barack Obama’s presidency.
“A Democrat-controlled Senate will without any question block every single one of President Trump’s nominees. This includes every cabinet member and every judge who is committed to upholding the Constitution,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, (R-WY). “[Schumer is] not going to change his playbook of obstruction and opposition.”
Democrats eliminated the filibuster for nominees in 2013. It’s not out of the question they will try to reinstate it to turn the odds of confirming anyone from slim to 0%.