On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Brookman, to a U.S. district court judgeship in the Southern District of Indiana. Despite having two Republican senators, the Senate unanimously approved Brookman’s appointment on a voice vote, marking a rarity for the Democratic president’s judicial nominees. Of 119 confirmed judicial nominees, only two others did not require roll call votes and were unanimously approved by voice vote.
In comparison, during Republican President Donald Trump’s presidency, 26 of his 92 appointments received voice votes at this point in his tenure, according to data collected by the conservative Heritage Foundation. It is noteworthy that just 10 of Biden’s 87 confirmed district court appointments come from states with one or more Republican senators, which progressive advocates argue points to the need to bring an end to the Senate’s “blue slip” tradition.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has traditionally required senators to return “blue slips,” named for the color of the paper forms, supporting district court nominees from their home states for them to advance. The panel’s Republican leadership eliminated the requirement for blue slips for appellate court nominees during Trump’s tenure. Progressive groups like Demand Justice and the American Constitution Society have argued that maintaining the “blue slip” tradition has allowed Republicans to obstruct Biden from nominating new judges in their states to fill vacancies.
However, while Senator Dick Durbin, the committee’s Democratic chair, has said he would not honor a blue slip that discriminates based on race, gender, or sexual discrimination, he has stood by the tradition and urged bipartisan cooperation. At a hearing in January, Durbin held out Brookman as a rare example during Biden’s tenure of two Republicans working with the White House to successfully name a judge and thanked GOP Senators Todd Young and Mike Braun of Indiana for doing so.
Brookman had worked for decades as a federal prosecutor, first in Missouri in 1999 and later in Indiana from 2002 to 2016, when he became a federal magistrate judge. At a January hearing, Young called Brookman an example of a nominee with “the potential for broad bipartisan support.” Biden announced plans to nominate Brookman in late December, and his nomination moved swiftly through the Democratic-led Senate.
In recent years, the confirmation of judicial nominees has become increasingly politicized. Senate Republicans blocked many of President Barack Obama’s nominees, and Senate Democrats returned the favor during Trump’s tenure, setting up a contentious and often bitter battle over the future of the judiciary.
While Brookman’s appointment demonstrates a rare example of bipartisan cooperation in judicial appointments, it remains to be seen whether this will be a trend in the future. The Biden administration has made judicial nominations a priority, and the confirmation of these nominees will significantly impact the direction of the judiciary in the years to come.