Since we are in a Congressional district work period, an interesting statistic regarding Article III Judicial confirmations

Outside The Beltway
1

The statistic is number of days from initial nomination to final confirmation of Article III Judicial nominees.

For Biden:

117th Congress: 97 total confirmations, with an average of 131 days pending
118th Congress (to this point): 93 total confirmations, with an average of 210 days pending
Total (to this point): 190 confirmations, with an average of 170 days pending

Shortest: Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, 38 days pending
Longest: Kenly Kiya Kato to a District Court, 692 days pending

Biden has managed to buck the trend of days pending ratcheting endlessly up and Republicans have likely been a huge help in this regard. Because the House of Representatives have done so little, the Senate has been able to devote FAR more time to confirmations. Time that might have been spent on legislation is instead being spent on nominations.

For comparison other Presidents of the modern era and average days pending for Article III Judicial nominees:

FDR - 18
Truman - 63
Eisenhower - 70
JFK - 51
LBJ - 40
Nixon - 29
Ford -36
Carter - 71
Starting with Reagan the average for each Congress is given in parentheses. Of course, it is the Bork fiasco that started the back and forth warring on judicial nominations that has destroyed what used to be a fairly routine process. Since then, Democrats and Republicans have alternated in finding new ways to delay and obstruct Judicial nominees. Biden has been spared ONLY because Republicans have so kindly given Democrats extra TIME in the Senate to spend on nominations.
Reagan - 69 (34, 40, 73, 124)
GHWB - 100 (80, 112)
Clinton - 152 (80, 126, 224, 204)
GWB - 211 (160, 194, 329, 216)
Obama - 231 (192, 242, 227, 306)
Trump - 242 (210, 260)
Biden - 170 (131, 210)

Biden can thank Republicans for gaining the confirmation of 20 to 30 more Article III Judges than he otherwise might have gotten.

And as there is precious little legislation coming forth from the House of Representatives, Biden has a chance to at least come close to Trump’s total of 234 Article III Judges. 44 more confirmations is difficult, but not at all out of the question.

The irony of the situation is that if Democrats are able to gain control of the House of Representatives this summer due to Republican resignations, Biden’s Judge total would actually be reduced, due to increased legislation.

2

As a side note, something truly amazing happened.

Ann Marie McIff Allen was confirmed as United States District Judge for the District of Utah, 100 to 0!!! Her nomination was recommended to President Biden by Senator Romney and supported by Senator Mike Lee, which certainly helped things along.

While Biden has had six District Judges go through on voice votes, this is the only roll call vote to be unanimous. A Trade Court Judge went through unanimously, but by a vote of 76 to 0.

Anyhow, Biden now has 193 Article III Judges confirmed, at an overall average of 206 days pending for his second Congress and 168 days pending overall.

3

Safiel, do you think there’s a timeline where at this date, the senate is done confirming judges? There haven’t been any new submissions since March 21st so I wasn’t sure if there’s a point where they just stop and wait till the election.

4

There will be more nominations coming, I think confirmations could continue into the lame duck period if need be. There will be no arbitrary cutoff, those days are long gone.