A dozen vacancies stretch across the federal bench in Pennsylvania, but the “nuclear option” won’t likely help put judges in those seats.
The move by Senate Democrats last month to outmaneuver Republican filibustering of President Obama’s nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by implementing the so-called nuclear option, which allows the Senate to confirm nominees with a simple majority vote, will probably help fill the bench that prompted it—Patricia Millett was confirmed this week to the D.C. Circuit after a roughly six-month wait. But it won’t do much for vacancies that don’t have nominees already in the pipeline.
