West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin may be putting his weight behind Democrats’ final push to approve Joe Biden’s pending judicial nominees.
Earlier this year, Manchin had pledged that he would not back any Biden-nominated judge who did not have at least one vote of GOP support. But now it seems Manchin is finally ready to play ball with the rest of the Democrats.
“We’re in different times right now,” Manchin told Axios when asked about his past promise to reject Biden’s nominees. He added that “my Republican friends are under the microscope.”
Manchin previously claimed his objection was in the name of bipartisanship.
“Just one Republican. That’s all I’m asking for,” he said during a March interview with Politico. “Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can’t get one Republican, I vote for none. I’ve told [Democrats] that. I said, ‘I’m sick and tired of it, I can’t take it anymore.’”
Manchin has voted against several of Biden’s judicial nominees based on that rule.
Senate Democrats are rushing to confirm Biden’s final nominees for federal judge positions before the party loses the chamber majority and Donald Trump returns to office in January. There are currently 45 judicial vacancies, and the Senate has 20 days left in session.