Senate Republican leadership is facing pressure to increase the pace of confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees now that the One Big, Beautiful Bill is in the rearview mirror. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, “has repeatedly urged Senate leadership to work through recesses and stay in D.C. as long as it takes to confirm President Trump’s nominees, both for the administration and the judicial branch. It remains vitally important to get strong judges who respect the Constitution in these lifetime appointments,” said Billy Gribbin, communications director for Utah senator, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, last week said that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could require a full Senate workweek—cutting time off on Fridays and Monday mornings—to bring Senate Democrats to the negotiating table. Fitton contended that the Senate could be clearing dozens of nominees per week, rather than the handful of nominees that it was down to during the debates over the budget reconciliation bill.  Senate Republicans could even potentially increase the Senate workweek to seven days. Other politicos have floated delaying or forgoing the traditional recess of the Senate that occurs through almost the entire month of August to get more nominees through the confirmation process, or to bring Senate Democrats to an agreement where nominees can be confirmed en bloc. While the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations was held up by the Republicans’ narrow margin in the House—because the since-withdrawn initial nominee is a member of the House, which would have left the margin even narrower—the Senate otherwise swiftly confirmed Trump’s Cabinet picks. There have been 92 civilian positions confirmed by the Senate as of Sunday. That’s a much higher number than during the first Trump term, which had just 53 positions confirmed at the same point, including both administration and federal court positions. Yet, there are still about 100 executive branch nominees awaiting a confirmation vote by the full Senate after passing out of committees.  The unfilled vacancies in the Trump administration are lingering even as the president’s inner circle has worked to fire nonessential and ideologically nonaligned personnel in the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency and other efforts. The State Department most recently moved to fire more than 1,300 personnel, but without Trump nominees such as ambassadors in place it is unclear how effective the administration will be in carrying out the president’s mandate.  Another option is recess appointments. Provided for under Article II of the Constitution, recess appointments for executive branch positions can be made by the president when the Senate is in a recess, usually greater than 10 days. Such appointments can last for as long as one or two years, depending on which specific recess they are made in. The appointments could temporarily give the Trump administration the personnel it needs while simultaneously encouraging the Senate to fulfill its role of advise and consent for presidential nominees.  In total, five of Trump’s second-term federal court nominees have been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee so far.  The Senate is set to vote on the confirmation of Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump’s first judicial nominee of his second term, this week. A former Supreme Court law clerk for both Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Samuel Alito, Hermandorfer has been nominated for a seat on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit has jurisdiction for the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.  The post Senate Republicans Pressed to Prioritize Trump Nominations appeared first on The Daily Signal.