The Political Page, T+48; This Deserves A Stand-Alone Post -- Nothing About The Bakken -- July 18, 2018

The US Senate breaks an all-time record:

Senate Republicans broke a record on Wednesday for the number of appeals court judges confirmed during a president's first two years. 

Senators voted 50-49 on Andrew Oldham's nomination to be a judge on the 5th Circuit, making him Trump's 23rd circuit court judge confirmed since he took office last year.

That breaks the previous record set by President George H.W. Bush, who got 22 appeals court judges confirmed during his administration's first two years.

"The Senate continues to confirm impressive nominees whom President Trump has asked to serve our country," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday. "[Oldham] comes highly recommended by colleagues and peers from across the spectrum." 

Republicans have rushed to confirm Trump's nominees for the key bench, letting the party shape the direction of the U.S. court system for decades.  

"I think of the things that we've been able to do with this Republican government the last year and a half, the single most long-lasting, positive impact we'll be able to have on the country is the judiciary," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky late last week.

Democrats and allied outside groups have blasted Republicans' steady pace of confirming Trump's circuit court nominees. 

"Given his lack of judicial experience and blatantly political record, litigants who come before Mr. Oldham in court will understandably question whether they are getting an impartial judge," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in a statement. 

She added that Oldham's record "could not be more extreme and overtly political." 

Jake Faleschini, the director of the Federal Courts Program at the Center for American Progress, added that "Oldham is yet another young right-wing firebrand who has spent his career pushing a damaging, partisan agenda."

But Democrats are essentially powerless to stop Trump's judicial picks unless they can win GOP support.

Much, much more at the link. 

GOP: doing the work of the people, President Bill Clinton would say, no doubt. 

The screenshot above was taken from Twitter, which in turn was taken from The American Spectator at this link.