Senate continues work on backlog of judicial nominations

The Senate confirmed three judicial nominations by voice-vote on Wednesday.

David Hale was confirmed to be a U.S. district judge for the Western District of Kentucky.

{mosads}Mark Kearney and Gerald Pappert were also confirmed by voice-vote to serve as U.S. district judges for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said the nominees were “eminently qualified.”

With Republicans taking control of the upper chamber next year, Democrats are more motivated than ever to clear as many of Obama’s executive and judicial nominations as possible before adjourning for the year. More than 100 nominations are still pending on the executive calendar.

The Senate is considering nominations while it waits for House legislation to keep the government funded past Dec. 11, to extend tax breaks for one year and to authorize defense spending.

The Senate also voted to end debate on the nominations of Franklin Orr to be under secretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Joseph Hezir to be chief financial officer of DOE.

— This article was updated at 6:30 p.m.