Schumer Trades Circuit Court Nominees for District Judges in November 2024 Deal

Details emerged of a November 2024 lame-duck deal in which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer allowed confirmation of several Trump circuit court nominees in exchange for advancing dozens of Biden-nominated district court judges before the new Congress. Republicans and some Democrats criticized the trade as ceding appellate leverage; Schumer defended it as securing hundreds of years of lower-court judicial service before the power shift.