The Senate voted unanimously to fill key committee seats left vacant after the death of California Democrat Dianne Feinstein at the end of September, tapping her replacement, Laphonza Butler, to take her seat on the Judiciary Committee. Arizona’s Mark Kelly will join the Senate Intelligence Committee and his senior colleague, Kyrsten Sinema, an independent, was chosen by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for the seat on the Appropriations Committee.
Butler’s seating on the Judiciary Committee means the 36 pending nominations will now have timely hearings to get their placements, something that couldn’t happen when the Committee was evenly divided due to Feinstein’s long absence due to illness. Since taking office, the Biden Administration has seated 145 Article III judges, but there are currently 68 federal judicial openings remaining. In total, there are 870 federal judges from the Supreme Court to courts of appeals, district courts, and eight Court of International Trade appointees.