On The Bench: Week of September 21, 2023

The Senate made limited progress on judicial nominations this week, with only two Article III confirmations. The Senate confirmed Judge Vernon Oliver (D. Conn.) in a 53-44 vote and Judge Rita Lin (N.D. Cal.) in a 52-45 vote. After last week’s successful Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting where 9 Article III nominees were advanced out of committee, there are still 23 Article III nominees pending on the floor awaiting cloture and confirmation votes.

Next Thursday, SJC is scheduled to have another executive business meeting, where it could advance up to 4 more Article III nominees to the floor.

As of September 22, there are 94 Article III vacancies, 69 of which are current. Once the new nominees are officially nominated, there will be 35 pending nominees: 23 waiting for floor votes, 4 waiting to be reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 8 waiting for hearings before the Committee. To date, 143 Article III judges have been confirmed during the Biden-Harris Administration.