Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is closing in on a record held by his Republican counterpart, according to a report.
Schumer, who will lose his status as his chamber's majority leader next year, needs to confirm just two more judges to lifetime terms this week to surpass Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) record of 234, set during Trump's first term, Axios reported Tuesday night.
And he intends to do just that, despite a lame-duck presidency. Axios called the 11th-hour confirmations Democrats' "final shot" at confirming their nominees until at least 2028.
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The news comes as Senate Republicans express anger that some Democratic-appointed judges canceled plans to retire in response to the GOP blockading President Joe Biden's final judicial nominees.
Among the most notable such new cases is that of Judge James Wynn of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He had planned to take senior status — a form of semi-retirement that lets a new judge be appointed — but after Senate Republicans rallied to block Biden's nomination to replace him, he rescinded his decision, writing to the president in a letter, "after careful consideration, I have decided to continue in regular active service."
