By Andrew Kragie

Law360 (May 4, 2020, 9:04 PM EDT) -- As the full Senate convened in Washington for the first time since March, left-leaning civil rights groups on Monday urged Republicans to stop processing President Donald Trump's judicial nominees, starting with a confirmation hearing set for Wednesday.

Dozens of groups signed a letter organized by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights admonishing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for being "so reckless and negligent as to prioritize judicial confirmations" when thousands are sick and millions face unemployment. The organizations asked for "a cessation of the consideration of lifetime judicial nominees at a time when a continued focus on support and resources to address the COVID-19 pandemic should be paramount."

"Every minute senators spend on judicial nominations is a minute not spent on solving the coronavirus crisis," Marge Baker of People for the American Way said in a statement, calling a focus on confirming judges "immoral."

"The Senate's move to advance Trump's judicial nominations in the middle of a deadly pandemic will go down in history as an indefensible dereliction of duty," added NAACP chief Derrick Johnson.

The advocacy groups' message echoes a missive last week from Judiciary Committee Democrats urging Graham to postpone Wednesday's hearing, which aides have told Law360 will feature Judge Justin R. Walker, a McConnell protégé up for a D.C. Circuit seat that will not become vacant until September.

Democrats have highlighted the 37-year-old judge's "not qualified" American Bar Association rating for his district-court position, based on his lack of litigation experience; the former law professor's credentials are more typical for an appellate court, with his clerkships at the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We should be focusing on COVID, not on divisive judicial nominees," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told a pool reporter Monday. On a press call last week, he said McConnell "should be holding oversight hearings on the COVID-19 crisis, not putting in right-wing judges, cronies of his who are not even said to be qualified by the ABA."

Also on Monday, Graham announced a Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday that could see votes to advance up to six district court picks for New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Louisiana along with two nominees for the Court of Federal Claims.

Republicans have dismissed liberal protestations as delay tactics and are unlikely to heed their calls.

"Like it has done since our founding, the Senate can walk and chew gum at the same time," Mike Davis, who until last year was the GOP's top nominations counsel, said in a Monday email to Law360. He added that the process relies on Judiciary Committee staff attorneys of both parties who are dedicated to nominations, so the work doesn't compete with pandemic relief.

"Confirming federal judges who understand their critical role of protecting the rights of Americans from government overreach is essential business during this crisis — especially with many politicians around the country more interested in power grabs than public safety," said Davis, who founded the Article III Project to advocate for Trump's picks. "The same Democrat senators and their left-wing allies who have mindlessly opposed many of the president's judicial nominees — even the non-controversial ones — are now attempting to use the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to indefinitely halt all judicial nominations."

In terms of public health, Wednesday's hearing is set for a room larger than the normal venue to allow for social distancing, and the Capitol remains closed to most visitors. Davis pointed out that senators can cycle in and out of the hearing, as they often do in normal times, or submit written questions for the record.

On the Senate floor Monday afternoon, McConnell said Democrats could avoid spending floor time on nominations if they dropped their opposition and allowed picks to sail through on voice votes.

The majority leader said the chamber would be "acting on key nominations that relate directly to the safety of the American people" and include "critical posts throughout the federal government, from public health to national security and beyond." A Monday evening confirmation vote was set for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general. The Banking Committee plans to hold a confirmation hearing Tuesday for the White House lawyer picked to be the special inspector general for pandemic recovery.

It's not clear when McConnell might schedule the next confirmation vote for a judicial nominee, which is sure to spur Democratic criticism. Ten district court picks approved by the Judiciary Committee await floor votes; several of them are clearly Democratic choices.

McConnell has promised a return to confirming judges and sees his legacy as transforming the federal judiciary through young, conservative appointees. A Senate GOP aide told Law360 last month that Republicans are increasingly concerned they could lose control of either the White House or the Senate this fall, ending the Trump-McConnell collaboration that has yielded more than 50 confirmations to circuit courts and nearly 140 to district courts.

Along with Judge Walker, another contentious appellate pick awaits committee consideration for the nation's only remaining circuit court vacancy. Mississippi state Judge Cory T. Wilson is up for the Fifth Circuit after the White House dropped its previous nominee, marking just the second defeat for a Trump circuit court pick over three years, with 51 confirmations.

Trump's judicial nominees had stalled in the Senate during the pandemic, with no confirmations since Feb. 26 and just six so far in 2020. Frustrated with delays, the president last month threatened to adjourn Congress so he can make temporary recess appointments by exercising a constitutional power never used before, which is unlikely to succeed.

The administration has slowed its pace of nominations, with just six new selections announced in the past two months, but that's partly because Republicans are running out of vacancies to fill. The newest selections came last week when Trump tapped a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida and a commercial and agribusiness litigator for the Eastern District of California.

On Monday, as the Senate reconvened, the White House formally submitted six judicial nominations. Among them was Iris Lan, a federal prosecutor tapped for the Southern District of New York, whose candidacy lapsed in January and spent four months in limbo while every other lapsed district court nomination was renewed.

Law360 is tracking Trump's judicial nominations from the White House to the Senate to the federal bench.

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.

Update: This article has been updated with information about the committee votes set for Thursday.

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