This Week in the Senate: 11/11/2019

This week, the Senate is holding votes on two nominations, including one to the judiciary, and the Judiciary Committee will convene a nominations hearing and an executive business meeting.

Floor Action:¹
Monday:

• No votes are scheduled.

Tuesday:

• The Senate will vote at 5:30 pm to invoke cloture on the nomination of Chad Wolf to be Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans. Confirmation to this position would allow for Wolf to serve as acting Secretary of Homeland Security under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. 

Wednesday:

• The Senate will vote to confirm Wolf, and then will vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Steven Menashi to be a Judge of the Second Circuit. Menashi is opposed by many Democrats and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) due to his inflammatory college writings and his work in the Trump administration as acting General Counsel of the Department of Education and as an Associate White House Counsel, and because he does not have blue slips from either of New York's senators.

Thursday:

• The Senate will vote to confirm Menashi. If he's confirmed, the Second Circuit will "flip" to a majority of Republican appointees for the first time since the early 1990s.

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee will hold a nominations hearing for the following nominees:

District Court / Court of International Trade / Court of Federal Claims:

1. Stanley Blumenfeld, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California
2. Grace Karaffa Obermann, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims
3. Mark C. Scarsi, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of California
4. Stephen A. Vaden, to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade

On Thursday, the Judiciary Committee will hold an executive session to vote on and/or hold over the following nominations (the number in the parentheses appearing after the nominee's name signifies whether this is the first or second time appearing on the agenda; first-time appearances are typically held over and nominees appearing for the second time usually receive votes):

Court of Appeals:

1. Halil Suleyman Ozerden, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit (6)
2. Patrick J. Bumatay, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit (1)
3. Lawrence VanDyke, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit (1)

District Court:

1. Philip M. Halpern, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York (1)
2. Bernard Maurice Jones II, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma (1)
3. Barbara Bailey Jongbloed, to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of Connecticut (1)

Notes:

¹The floor schedule is an approximate guide to when votes may occur. It may not necessarily be completely accurate due to things changing in the Senate during the week.


Update # 1 (11/4/2019): Ozerden not on committee agenda.