The federal government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a federal republic in North America, composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories and several island possessions. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement entities. The Judiciary Committee is also the committee responsible for impeachments of federal officials. Because of the legal nature of its oversight, committee members usually have a legal background, but this is not required.
The nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the United States Senate to override a standing rule of the Senate, such as the 60-vote rule to close debate, by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the two-thirds supermajority normally required to amend the rules. The option is invoked when the majority leader raises a point of order that contravenes a standing rule, such as that only a simple majority is needed to close debate on certain matters. The presiding officer denies the point of order based on Senate rules, but the ruling of the chair is then appealed and overturned by majority vote, establishing new precedent.
Congressional oversight is oversight by the United States Congress over the Executive Branch, including the numerous U.S. federal agencies. Congressional oversight includes the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. Congress exercises this power largely through its congressional committee system. Oversight also occurs in a wide variety of congressional activities and contexts. These include authorization, appropriations, investigative, and legislative hearings by standing committees; which is specialized investigations by select committees; and reviews and studies by congressional support agencies and staff.
A blue slip or blue-slipping is one of two different legislative procedures in the United States Congress.
Karin Johanna Immergut is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Brian Theadore "Ted" Stewart is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
U.S. President Barack Obama nominated over four hundred individuals for federal judgeships during his presidency. Of these nominations, Congress confirmed 329 judgeships, 173 during the 111th & 112th Congresses and 156 during the 113th and 114th Congresses.
Todd Michael Hughes is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Theodore David Chuang is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and former Deputy General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
On January 31, 2017, soon after taking office, President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated Neil Gorsuch for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died almost one year earlier. Then-president Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated Merrick Garland to succeed Scalia on March 16, 2016, but the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate did not vote on the nomination. Majority leader Mitch McConnell declared that as the presidential election cycle had already commenced, it made the appointment of the next justice a political issue to be decided by voters. The Senate Judiciary Committee refused to consider the Garland nomination, thus keeping the vacancy open through the end of Obama's presidency on January 20, 2017.
Thomas Alvin Farr is an American attorney. Farr was nominated by President Donald Trump for a judgeship on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2017, and again in 2018. Farr was considered a controversial nominee due to his alleged involvement in suppression of African-American voters. On November 29, 2018, Republican U.S. Senators Jeff Flake and Tim Scott announced their opposition to Farr's nomination, together with unanimous opposition of Senate Democrats, made it impossible for Farr's nomination to be confirmed.
Michael Brian Brennan is a United States Circuit Court Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He was first nominated on August 3, 2017, by U.S. President Donald Trump, and was re-nominated in 2018. He was confirmed May 10, 2018. He was previously a partner in the Milwaukee law firm Gass Weber Mullins LLC, and served 8 years as a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge.
Leonard Steven Grasz is an American lawyer and a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Ryan Douglas Nelson is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was previously nominated to become Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior, but was never confirmed.
Howard Curtis Nielson Jr. is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.
President Donald Trump entered office with a significant number of judicial vacancies, including a Supreme Court vacancy due to the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. During the first eight months of his presidency, he nominated approximately 50 judges, a significantly higher number than any other recent president had made by that point in his presidency. By June 24, 2020, 200 of his Article III nominees had been confirmed.
Wendy Baldwin Vitter is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Chad Andrew Readler is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and former Principal Deputy and former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Division.
Daniel Paul Collins is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
