掌控参议院的胜利者将赢得中期选举中最具实质意义的战利品之一：对总统唐纳德·特朗普提名人选的控制权。
The winner of Senate control would snatch one of the biggest tangible prizes of the midterms: control over President Donald Trump’s nominees.
如果民主党掌握主导权，那么特朗普提名的候选人恐怕很难有任何进展。
If Democrats are in charge, don’t expect many of Trump’s picks to move at all.
“如果这些提名人选和他目前提名的人一样糟糕，那么其中很少有人能通过。如果他向我们推举一位新的[国防部长皮特]赫格塞斯，我敢打赌他根本过不了参议院参议院的少数党领袖查克·舒默在选举前接受Semafor采访时说道：“候选人的质量才是关键。迄今为止，特朗普提名的人选都以质量极差而臭名昭著。”民主党被看好将赢得众议院，这将限制明年在立法方面取得重大两党共识的可能性。但如果共和党能够守住参议院，他们至少还能保留确认特朗普提名人选的能力——尤其是那些终身任命的司法职位。
“If the nominees are as crappy as his present ones, very few of them are going to get through. If he sends us a new [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth, I bet he wouldn’t pass the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Semafor in a pre-election interview. “It’s the quality of the candidate that matters. Thus far, Trump has a record of notoriously bad candidates.”Democrats are favored to take the House, which would limit big bipartisan breakthroughs on legislation next year. But if Republicans can hold the Senate, they’d at least retain the ability to confirm Trump nominees — most notably, lifetime judicial appointments.
舒默的言论证实，在特朗普执政期间，若民主党掌控参议院，确认参议员提名的过程将演变成一场阵地战：委员会主席可以轻松地将特朗普的提名人选搁置，而舒默则可以直接拒绝将其提交至全院审议。
Schumer’s comments confirm that Democratic control of the Senate under Trump would turn the battle to confirm Senate nominees into trench warfare, with committee chairmen able to bottle up Trump’s picks easily and Schumer able to simply not put them on the floor.
或许会有少数法官获得确认，但内阁部长们的提名过程将漫长而艰难。此外，在奥巴马执政时期，时任参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔曾阻止梅里克·加兰的提名，因此即便未来出现最高法院职位空缺，民主党多数派也几乎不可能确认任何提名人选。
Perhaps a handful of judges would be confirmed, but Cabinet secretaries would face long slogs. There’s also little hope that a Democratic majority would confirm a Supreme Court nominee — should a vacancy arise — after then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blockade of Merrick Garland during the Obama years.
“由民主党控制的参议院毫无疑问会阻止特朗普总统的所有提名，包括每一位内阁成员和每一位致力于维护宪法的法官，”参议院多数党鞭、来自怀俄明州的共和党人约翰·巴拉萨罗表示。“（舒默）不会改变他那一套阻挠和反对的策略。”距离总统所在政党在中期选举中失去参议院控制权，已经过去了十多年。2014年“红色浪潮”之后，参议院共和党人仅批准了前总统巴拉克·奥巴马少数几个低级别法官的提名，阻止了最高法院一个席位的填补，甚至还将他的司法部长提名者洛丽塔·林奇确认提名的程序搁置，直到参议院通过了一项打击人口贩运的法案。
“A Democrat-controlled Senate will without any question block every single one of President Trump’s nominees. This includes every cabinet member and every judge who is committed to upholding the Constitution,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. “[Schumer is] not going to change his playbook of obstruction and opposition.”It’s been more than a decade since the president’s party lost control of the Senate during a midterm election. After the 2014 red wave, Senate Republicans gave former President Barack Obama few lower-level judges, blocked a Supreme Court seat from being filled, and even blocked his attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch, from confirmation until the Senate passed a human trafficking bill.
司法提名者的阻挠是不可避免的，但特朗普可以依靠行政部门的代理官员。如果共和党人真的失去对参议院的控制，预计共和党将在11月和12月使用直接的确认手段——包括一次性确认大量提名者——以在舒默重新掌控参议院之前尽可能多地完成工作。
There’s no way around a judicial nominee blockade, but Trump can lean on acting officials in the executive branch. If Republicans do lose Senate control, look for the GOP to use its blunt confirmation tools — including confirming large tranches of nominees — in November and December to accomplish as much as they can before Schumer takes control again.
目前，地区法院有27个司法职位空缺，已有10名候选人被提名填补这些职位，其中大部分位于共和党控制的州。此外，还有几名候选人已准备好被提名为联邦上诉法院的法官。
There are currently 27 judicial vacancies at the district level and 10 nominees to fill those, mostly in Republican states. There are also a handful of nominees ready to be confirmed to federal appeals courts.
如果共和党人能够保住参议院多数地位，他们很可能会在未来两年内优先推进司法任命。
If Republicans hold the chamber, they will probably prioritize judicial appointments for the next two years.