Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Senate Panel to Weigh Cutting Floor-Debate Time for Nominees

The Senate's Rules and Administration Committee next week will consider a proposal intended to dramatically reduce the time the chamber debates executive and judicial nominees.

(CN) - The Senate's Rules and Administration Committee next week will consider a proposal intended to dramatically reduce the time the chamber debates executive and judicial nominees.

The proposal, formally, “A resolution to improve procedures for the consideration of nominations in the Senate,” was introduced on Dec. 7 by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and his proposal would reduce debate the time allocated for debate on high-ranking executive branch nominees and most judges or justices to eight hours.

District court nominees would get two hours of debate time.

The committee hearing, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Dec 19 in the Russell Senate Office Building, comes at a time when the Senate is moving at a record pace in confirming appellate court nominees in a president's first year.

Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, was first to report that the hearing had been scheduled. The publication went on to note that if it passed, Lankford's proposal would be just the latest of a number of Senate rule changes pushed through in recent years.

Republicans pushed through a rules change to cut the number of votes required to cut off debate for considering a Supreme Court nominee earlier this year.

In 2013, Democrats pushed through a change that lowered the threshold to cut off debate on executive and judicial nominees.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...