GOP to Block Obama's Judicial Nominees Until Election

Senate Republicans will invoke the “Thurmond Rule” and block all of President Barack Obama’s nominees to the nation’s federal bench until after the November elections.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told colleagues of his decision on Wednesday after a meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and other top GOP leaders during the weekly Steering Committee luncheon for conservatives, according to Roll Call.

The decision comes less than four and a half months until Election Day, Nov. 6.

Named after the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., the rule allows the opposition party to refuse to allow votes on circuit court judges within six months of a presidential election.

District court nominees, however, will still be confirmed until at least early September, when cooperation on those lower court picks traditionally ends, Roll Call reports.

Grassley said he told his colleagues during the luncheon that they ought to be instituting the rule "right now,” saying that Republicans have shown Obama the same deference on circuit court judges as Democrats showed his GOP predecessor, President George W. Bush.

“By this time, nobody can say it’s not fair to this president based on the number of nominations we’ve put up,” Grassley said.