This Is the Last Chance to Confirm Originalist Judges

The Wall Street Journal · Michael A. Fragoso · 2026-11-04 17:12 UTC

Mitch McConnell played hardball during the 2020 lame-duck session. This time it will be even harder.

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‘Leave no vacancy behind.” That was Sen. Mitch McConnell’s motto going into the 2020 lame-duck session, and it’s one that Senate Republicans need to embrace over the next two months. After the party’s abysmal showing in the midterm elections, this will be the last opportunity for some time in which to confirm constitutionalist judges. Recent lame-duck sessions provide valuable lessons for today.

In 2020, facing the reality that President Biden would select a very different kind of judicial nominee, Majority Leader McConnell marched through the executive calendar, confirming 14 Article III judges. As today, Republicans held 53 seats and their leadership worked to keep them present and voting. (This time, the majority will decline to 52 on Dec. 15, when Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s appointment expires.) Importantly, control of the Senate in January was uncertain at the time owing to two pending runoffs in Georgia, so Democrats lacked an incentive to maximize their opposition.

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