2027年1月3日，左翼民主党人将控制美国参议院。形势再严峻不过。即将卸任的参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（共和党-南达科他州）必须利用剩下的每一天，确认特朗普总统所有尚未获批的司法提名人。这意味着在权力交接前，要确认23名法官——其中4名为巡回法院法官，19名为地区法院法官。
On Jan. 3, 2027, leftist Democrats will take control of the U.S. Senate. The stakes could not be higher. Outgoing Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., must use every remaining day to confirm all of President Trump's pending judicial nominees. That means 23 judges, four for the circuit courts and 19 for the district courts, before the gavel changes hands.
不要对接下来会发生什么抱有幻想。即将上任的参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默（民主党-纽约州）将阻挠任何联邦上诉法院的提名确认。他极有可能也不会放过地区法院的提名。参议院共和党人要么现在完成司法提名任务，要么就把这些席位留给左翼——如果民主党在2028年夺回白宫的话。
Make no mistake about what comes next. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will block any confirmation to the courts of appeals. He likely won't spare the district courts either. Senate Republicans either finish the judicial job now, or they leave these seats open for the left if Democrats win back the White House in 2028.
联邦上诉法院影响最为深远。它们在绝大多数案件中拥有最终裁决权。美国最高法院仅批准约1%的上诉审查请愿。对于美国联邦法院几乎所有的诉讼当事人来说，巡回法院都是终点站。
Appellate courts are the most consequential. They get the final word in the vast majority of cases. The Supreme Court grants only about 1% of all petitions for review. For nearly every litigant in federal court in America, the circuit court is the last stop.
特朗普总统提名了四位杰出的法学家，以增强关键上诉法院的实力：安娜·圣约翰和托德·巴特勒获提名为第五巡回法院法官，李·鲁多夫斯基获提名为第八巡回法院法官，丹·多梅尼科获提名为第十巡回法院法官。圣约翰、鲁多夫斯基和多梅尼科已分别在路易斯安那州、阿肯色州和科罗拉多州的地区法院出色履职。这四人都已做好充分准备接任这些职位。
President Trump has nominated four outstanding jurists to strengthen key appellate benches: Anna St. John and Todd Butler to the Fifth Circuit, Lee Rudofsky to the Eighth Circuit, and Dan Domenico to the Tenth Circuit. St. John, Rudofsky, and Domenico already serve with distinction on the district courts in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Colorado. All four are well prepared to step into these roles.
他们将接替为国家服务数十载、功绩卓著的法官：第五巡回法院的莱斯利·索斯威克和库尔特·恩格尔哈特，第八巡回法院的鲍比·谢泼德，以及第十巡回法院的蒂莫西·廷科维奇。他们长期且典范的任职值得我们深表感谢。
They will succeed judges who have given the country decades of distinguished service: Fifth Circuit Judges Leslie Southwick and Kurt Engelhardt, Eighth Circuit Judge Bobby Shepherd, and Tenth Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich. Their long and exemplary tenures merit our deep gratitude.
即将卸任的参议院司法委员会主席查克·格拉斯利（共和党-爱荷华州）是监督工作的王者，也是公认的在提名确认关卡中护送提名人的重量级冠军。他已经安排了两场11月的听证会，以处理扩大后的提名名单，并因如此做而遭到民主党人的抨击。格拉斯利已尽其责，现在他的同僚必须尽他们的责。
Outgoing Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is the king of oversight and the undisputed heavyweight champion of shepherding nominees through the confirmation gauntlet. He has already scheduled two November hearings to handle an expanded slate, and he is taking heat from Democrats for doing it. Grassley has done his part. Now his colleagues must do theirs.
参议员约翰·布兹曼和他的阿肯色州共和党同僚参议员汤姆·科顿对鲁多夫斯基提出了质疑，每位参议员都有权履行其审慎调查职责。但日程安排已不再留有审议的余地。鲁多夫斯基是一位宪法主义的中坚力量，他赢得了迅速获批。如果这一提名停滞，一位左翼司法激进分子最终可能占据这个至关重要的联邦上诉法院席位。布兹曼参议员及其同僚应毫不拖延地推进鲁多夫斯基的提名。
Sen. John Boozman and his fellow Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton have raised questions about Rudofsky, and every senator has the right to do his due diligence. But the calendar leaves no more room for deliberation. Rudofsky is a constitutionalist stalwart, and he has earned swift approval. If this nomination stalls, a left-wing judicial activist could eventually take this crucially important federal appellate seat. Sen. Boozman and his colleagues should move Rudofsky without further delay.
地区法院同样重要。名单已定，剩余工作很简单。共和党参议员必须出席每一次委员会投票，推动这份名单通过司法委员会，并在参议院全院确认每一位提名人。棋局已定。迅速完成，马上完成。
HUGH HEWITT: THE MIDTERMS ARE ONE MONTH OUT — YOU NEED TO KNOW THE STAKES District courts matter too. The slate is set, and the work that remains is simple. Republican senators must show up for every committee vote, advance this slate out of the Judiciary Committee and confirm every one of these nominees on the Senate floor. The pieces are in place. Get it done, quickly.
民主党人写就了这本剧本。在2024年跛脚鸭会议期间，共和党已赢得自2025年1月开始的参议院多数派地位后，时任参议院司法委员会主席理查德·德宾（民主党-伊利诺伊州）无情地强行通过了数位法官。投票一直持续到圣诞节前几天，舒默热情地带头推进。如今当共和党理所当然地回敬这一做法时，左翼毫无资格抱怨。如果有机会，舒默会再做一遍。人尽皆知。
Democrats wrote this playbook. In the 2024 lame-duck session, after Republicans had won a Senate majority starting in January 2025, then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ilinois, ruthlessly rammed through several judges. The votes kept coming until just a few days before Christmas, and Schumer enthusiastically led the way. The left has no standing to complain today when the GOP rightly returns the favor. Given the chance, Schumer would do it all again. Everyone knows it.
许多共和党现任议员将于1月卸任，结束多年的州务服务。关键工作仍待完成。这些法官将任职数十年，深刻塑造法律。
Many Republican incumbents leave office in January after years of service to their states. Crucial work remains. These judges will sit for decades and dramatically shape the law.
参议员肩负着确认这些杰出提名人的庄严责任。左派总统绝不能被允许用激进分子填补这些席位。宪法主义者必须占据这些终身职位。
Senators have a solemn responsibility to confirm these exceptional nominees. A leftist president must not get to stack these seats with radicals. Constitutionalists must hold these lifetime appointments.
未来两年对司法提名人而言将是黯淡的，在许多其他方面也是如此。但未来两个月必须是光明的。确认这些杰出的法官，将成为这些即将离任参议员留下的持久遗产。
The next two years will be bleak for judicial nominees, and bleak in plenty of other ways. The next two months must be bright. Confirming these outstanding judges will be the lasting legacy of these outgoing senators.