Fox’s Kilmeade claims Republicans had to use “nuclear” option for judges, but the Senate is already confirming them at record pace 

Written by Grace Bennett

Published

On April 3, Republicans invoked the Senate’s nuclear option to alter Senate rules so that they can confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees at a faster pace. Fox & Friends hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy defended the majority’s controversial choice on the grounds that Republicans had to go nuclear in order for Trump’s nominees to be confirmed. In reality, Trump’s nominees have been confirmed at a historic rate.

The Senate’s nuclear option essentially allows the majority party to make rule changes with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 votes it would otherwise need. Yesterday, Republicans used it to change part of the allotted period of debate on judicial nominees from 30 hours to two. On Fox & Friends, the hosts defended this decision. Kilmeade claimed that “after two-and-a-half years, Donald Trump can't get judges confirmed,” and Doocy argued that the “the president has had so much trouble getting … judges confirmed.”

But Trump is appointing judges at a “historic pace.” After the first two years of this presidency, he had a record number of federal appeals court judges confirmed, and his nominees seem likely to change the face of many of America’s courts. In fact, the rate of judicial confirmations has been so fast that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell once bragged to reporters: “We think we're on pace here to begin to make substantial changes in the federal judiciary.”

From the April 4 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Meanwhile, in other political news, the president got a big win yesterday. The Senate -- and once again, along party line votes -- they decided to use the nuclear option. And because the president has had so much trouble getting his, you know, members of his cabinet and judges confirmed, what they have done now is rather than that 60-vote rule, they’ve gone back to a simple majority is all it's going to take. Rather than 30 hours of debate, down to two.

…

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): [Sen. Chuck Schumer] only has himself to blame by doing nonstop four-corners offense that used to be before the 30-second clock in college basketball. They have put it to the point where after two-and-a-half years, Donald Trump can't get judges confirmed, can't get people into their spaces. You have people who give up their jobs, expose themselves to extensive background checks, who just wait in the hopper for their day to get confirmed, or even rejected. It doesn't happen. Schumer delayed it to the point where action had to be taken. He waited two years.