华盛顿-由于加州参议员黛安娜·范斯坦长期缺席，参议院民主党人周四按照政党路线推进了总统拜登的三名司法提名人。
随着范斯坦重返参议院，并在委员会投票，该小组批准了三项被搁置的联邦地区法院法官提名:华盛顿州的Charnelle Bjelkengren，科罗拉多州的S. Kato Crews和加利福尼亚州的Marian Gaston。范斯坦因带状疱疹而缺席10周，这意味着委员会的投票与政党路线捆绑在一起，没有共和党的支持，民主党人无法推进任何提名。
范斯坦回归之前，民主党人和自由派倡导团体对该委员会积压的提名感到焦虑，尽管该委员会在两党支持下投票淘汰了几名法官。
在一个不寻常的请求中，范斯坦要求在她不在参议院期间暂时被替换。但共和党人上个月阻止了投票，称临时委员会替换几乎没有先例，他们不想帮助民主党人确认最具党派色彩的法官。两周后，民主党人表示，范斯坦将返回华盛顿。
这位89岁的加州参议员是现任参议院中任职时间最长的民主党人，她在患带状疱疹后于周三返回，并在参议院投票，看起来明显瘦了，并使用轮椅。她的办公室表示，随着她继续康复，她将减少手术时间。
在周四的司法会议上，她坐在轮椅上，但走到讲台上的座位上，接受了起立鼓掌。参议院司法委员会主席迪克·德宾。他说，他代表他们所有人发言，“对我们的同事范斯坦参议员表示宽慰和支持。”
该小组没有对迈克尔·德莱尼(Michael Delaney)进行投票，他是总部位于波士顿的美国第一巡回上诉法院的提名人，他在新罕布什尔州为堕胎父母通知法辩护的法律摘要上的签名引起了民主党人和倡导团体的罕见关注。
德宾在投票后表示，提名目前没有获得足够的支持——这意味着一些民主党人不准备投票给他。
“这不是一个合适的时机，”德宾谈到周四的会议。“我们走着瞧。”
共和党人抨击了三名按照党派路线获得批准的司法提名人。得克萨斯州共和党参议员特德·克鲁兹表示，这些被提名人是拜登司法提名中“一小部分”的一部分，这些人如此极端，以至于他们“不可能在这个委员会中获得哪怕一个共和党人的投票”
克鲁兹指出，南卡罗来纳州参议员。林赛·格雷厄姆司法委员会中的最高共和党人，投票支持拜登的大部分司法选择。但是格雷厄姆不支持这些法官。
包括参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)在内的共和党参议员批评了这三名按照政党路线获得批准的法官的党派意识形态，或者他们所说的缺乏经验和法律知识。Bjelkengren无法回答来自路易斯安那参议员约翰·肯尼迪。在今年早些时候的听证会上，她谈到了宪法条款。
德宾为被提名者辩护，包括Bjelkengren在接受肯尼迪质询时的失误。“听证会上的一个回答并不能否定他一生的服务，”他说。
会议开始时，该委员会在两党支持下批准了另外三名联邦法官的提名。范斯坦在听证会开始后一个半小时左右到达，她没有出席投票，但她一到就表示支持。
该小组周四批准的所有六名法官提名现在将转移到参议院进行最终确认投票。
即使日程减少，范斯坦的回归也将使民主党人在49-51的微弱多数中有更多的回旋余地——不仅在司法小组，而且在参议院以及在即将到来的提高国家债务上限的谈判中。
司法小组中的民主党人康涅狄格州参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔说，范斯坦的回归使民主党人能够再次获得全部多数席位。其他几位参议员今年因医疗原因缺席，包括宾夕法尼亚州参议员约翰·费特曼(John Fetterman)，一位接受临床抑郁症治疗的民主党人。
布卢门撒尔说，推进拜登的提名和其他民主党优先事项，“我充满活力，欣喜若狂”。
With Feinstein back in Senate, 3 of Biden's stalled judicial nominees move forward
WASHINGTON --Senate Democrats advanced three of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees along party lines Thursday after weeks of delay due to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s extended absence.
With Feinstein back in the Senate, and voting in the committee, the panel approved three federal district court judge nominations that had been stalled: Charnelle Bjelkengren of Washington state, S. Kato Crews of Colorado and Marian Gaston of California. Feinstein’s 10-week absence recovering from shingles meant that the committee’s votes were tied along party lines and Democrats could not move forward with any nominees without Republican support.
Feinstein’s return came after weeks of angst among Democrats and liberal advocacy groups about a backlog of nominations on the panel, even as the committee voted out several judges with bipartisan support.
In an unusual request, Feinstein had asked to be temporarily replaced on the panel while she remained out of the Senate. But Republicans last month blocked a vote, saying there was little precedent for a temporary committee replacement and that they didn’t want to help Democrats confirm the most partisan judges. Two weeks later, Democrats said that Feinstein would return to Washington.
The 89 year-old California senator, the longest-serving Democrat in the current Senate, returned Wednesday after her bout with shingles and cast a vote on the Senate floor looking noticeably thinner and using a wheelchair. Her office said she would operate on a reduced schedule as she continues to recover.
At the Judiciary meeting Thursday, she arrived in a wheelchair but walked to her seat on the dais, receiving a standing ovation. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he spoke for all of them “with feelings of relief and support for our colleague Senator Feinstein.”
The panel did not hold a vote on Michael Delaney, a nominee for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who has generated some rare concern from Democrats and advocacy groups over his signature on a legal brief defending a parental notification law for abortion in New Hampshire.
Durbin said after the vote that the nomination currently doesn’t have enough support — meaning some Democrats are not ready to vote for him.
“It wasn’t the right moment,” Durbin said of Thursday's meeting. “We’ll see.”
Republicans railed against the three judicial nominees approved along party lines. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the nominees were part of a “small subset” of Biden’s judicial nominations who are so extreme that they “could not have a prayer of getting even a single Republican vote on this committee.”
Cruz noted that South Carolina Sen.Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, votes for most of Biden's judicial picks. But Graham did not support those judges.
GOP senators, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, had criticized the three judges approved along party lines for their partisan ideologies or what they said was a lack of experience and knowledge of the law. Bjelkengren was unable to answer basic questions fromLouisianaSen. John Kennedy, R-La., about articles of the Constitution during her confirmation hearing earlier this year.
Durbin defended the nominees, including Bjelkengren’s stumbles during her questioning from Kennedy. “One response during a hearing does not negate a lifetime of service,” he said.
The committee approved three other federal judge nominations with bipartisan support at the beginning of the meeting. Feinstein, who arrived around an hour and a half after the hearing started, was not present for those votes but voiced her support once she arrived.
All six judge nominations approved by the panel on Thursday will now move to the Senate floor for final confirmation votes.
Even with a reduced schedule, Feinstein’s return will give Democrats more room to maneuver in their narrow 49-51 majority – not only on the Judiciary panel but on the Senate floor and during the upcoming negotiations over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the Judiciary panel, said Feinstein’s return enables Democrats to have their full majority again. Several other senators have been absent for medical reasons this year, including Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who received treatment for clinical depression.
“I’m energized and ecstatic” to move forward on Biden’s nominees and other Democratic priorities, Blumenthal said.
