Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley is accelerating hearings for President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees before Democrats take control of the Senate on Jan. 3. In defending the push, the Iowa Republican accused Democrats of preparing to do something he called unprecedented: block a president’s ability to appoint judges.

“Some Democrats so despise President Trump that for the first time in our nation’s history they’re planning to stonewall a president’s ability to appoint judges,” Grassley said Tuesday, according to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/senate-republicans-kick-off-lame-duck-dash-advance-trump-judge-picks-2026-11-10/).

The claim overlooks one of the most consequential nomination battles in recent Senate history. In 2016, Grassley chaired the Judiciary Committee when President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Grassley and fellow Republicans refused to hold a hearing or vote on the nomination, which expired after 293 days.

The vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was ultimately filled by Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch. Grassley later explained the Garland blockade at an April 2025 town hall by invoking the circumstance of a president and Senate controlled by opposing parties.

Now Grassley is moving to advance Trump’s nominees during the lame-duck session, after Republicans lost control of the chamber in the midterm elections. At Tuesday’s hearing, the committee’s first since the election, he signaled that nomination hearings would be held this week and next, departing from a bipartisan practice of spacing them at least two weeks apart.

The committee also lined up as many as seven nominees for one hearing and called nominees before staff had cleared their FBI background checks. Two Texas district court nominees submitted their questionnaires 10 and 14 days before their hearing, short of the committee’s 28-day rule.

One of those nominees, James Sullivan, lost a race for the Texas Supreme Court on Election Day. The White House sent his nomination paperwork to the committee the following day. The other, Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel head Elliot Gaiser, received a call from Sen. Ted Cruz’s office about the opening the day after the election, according to Bloomberg Law.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat, said Republicans were trying to fill the Texas seats before Democratic Sen.-elect James Talarico takes office. Under the “blue slip” tradition Grassley has maintained for district court nominees, home-state senators have a say in whether nominations advance.

Durbin warned Grassley that his changes could set a precedent under Democratic leadership. “When you have to live with it under a new Chairman,” he said, “I’m sorry to tell you, but you asked for it.”

The Garland episode is not the only relevant precedent. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Senate confirmed no circuit or district court judges during the 2016 lame-duck session, when Grassley also chaired the committee.