Get ready for a whirlwind of judicial confirmations this week. Under pressure from Republicans in the prospect of ads running against him, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is ramping up confirmations this week. He set up votes for four nominees to the federal appellate courts less than two weeks ago. At a press conference in the Rose Garden, President Trump complained that the Democrats were holding up votes on his judicial nominees, but he bragged about the number of judges
he's had confirmed. They are obstructing, they're doing. It's really what I'm telling you. They're not good politicians, but they're very good at obstruction. Something that people aren't talking about is how many judges we've had approved, whether it be the Court of Appeals, circuit judges, whether it be district judges. Nine of Trump's judicial nominees, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorstch,
have been confirmed by the Senate. At the same time, during his administration, President Obama had five judicial nominees, including Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, confirmed, joining us as Carl Tobio S Professor at the Union University of Richmond School of Law and an expert on judicial nominations, Carl in one week votes on four nominees to the federal courts of appeals. That's one level below the Supreme Court. How fast is that? It's very fast? Um, way ahead of
I think Obama and Bush. Um. And it's it's important to remember. And I think Senator fine Signed, a ranking member on Senate Judiciary Committee, said and criticized moving nominees
that quickly. I think the Democrats never did that, undrew Obama. Uh. In terms of stacking so many in one week, it's very difficult to prepare, as she said, Um for that many nominees study their records and be ready to actually debate it in a substantive manner when you have all of those in one week, Carl, taken as a group, how would you characterize Donald Trump's nominees? Maybe let's just start with the appeals court level. How conservative are these
people that he is putting up there? Well, I think they are very conservative. I don't think there's much question about that in a number of them. Of course, we're recommended or even compiled um by the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation for the initial group of twenty from whom Justice Coursage was selected. Uh. Many of those have been nominated now to the appeals courts. Uh. They're very conservative, but most of them are very well qualified as well,
except for one. Uh we just found out yesterday who received a unanimously not qualified rating by the American Bar Association. Which judge is that or which perspective judge? It's Steve graz who is from Nebraska, nominated to the A Circuit and he has a hearing tomorrow. UH, and we'll see how that goes. To Carl, talk about the two nominees
that were subjected to intense criticism by Senate Democrats. One, Amy Coney Barrett is on track to be confirmed today to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Tell us what the objections were. Uh. I think the objections were that she had not had any appellate experience UM as a lawyer. Uh. And there were concerns about questions that she might not be unbiased on certain questions UM. And there was some questioning in the Judiciary committee about
whether she could put aside her her faith. I think was away. It was phrased, and I think it was awkwardly asked by a couple of senators. UM, and someone said that's a religious test. I don't think that was what anybody had in mind. UM. But she has um a very strong record of scholarship, and I think she handled the questions very well in her hearing. So I expect, as you suggest, that she will be confirmed. She had a cloture vote yesterday, and UH is on track, as
you suggest, for confirmation today or tomorrow, Carl. The Alliance for Justice, which is a liberal group, put out a statement yesterday that said that because of all the Russia investigation, because of questions about whether the Trump campaign was involved in collusion with with the Russian government in the campaign, the group said, this is no time for lifetime appointments to the bench. Is there something to that? Is there?
If we get to the point where there are, um, you know, real questions about either this president's legitimacy or you know, whether impeachment might be around the corner, our democrats justified in taking that into account in really trying to slow down judicial nominations. Well, I don't think we're there yet. I didn't. If we get to that point, UM, people need to discuss it and debate it. But I think as long as the Republicans have a majority, they're
not likely uh to do very much about that. Um. And it does seem rush this week, to be sure, in terms of stacking the four in one week, I don't think there's any question about that Republican. Has anyone has McConnell addressed the fact that he held up there? They're blaming the Democrats for holding these up. He held
up and killed Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court. Well, amaze the people like Amy Coney Barrett are nominated for seats that very highly qualified Obama nominees were nominated for and had no hearing because they were blue slipped by Republican home stage senators. Uh. And McConnell was the foremost leader of that group. Uh. So that's I think the fact that we all know Carl only about thirty seconds left.
But should we be concerned that the president has firmed out so much of the process of selecting these prospective judges to the Federalist Society and other conservatives, Well, I think it is a real question. Um. It seems to me it ought to be done in the White House completely by the White House, Uh, not by interest groups of any sort. So I think that's unfortunate. I think it's also unfortunate that McConnell seems pressed by the threat
that judicial confermation network or run ads. Again, Tim, that doesn't seem like a very good way to run the government. Thanks so much for being here, Carl. As always, that's Carl Tobias, professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. That's it for this edition of Bloomberg Long. We'll be back tomorrow one pm Wall Street Time. Hope you'll be as well. Thanks to our producer David Suckerman and our technical director Chris try Comey. Coming up next Bloomberg Markets
with Carol Master and Corey Johnson. Carol's here to tell us what's the top thing on their agenda. So June, you've heard of Google, You've heard of Facebook, you've heard of Twitter. Well, representatives from those big tech companies they're testifying for Congress on the extent of Russian influence on their networks and in in the election. So I'm gonna be covering that. I'll be listening to that for sure. That's coming up next on Bloomberg