But with the 50-50 Senate under their control only by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’s ability to break ties, Mr. Schumer and Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, had an early spring confirmation in their sights from the start and urged the White House to move quickly to choose a nominee and get on with the process.
While Supreme Court nominations draw immense attention, it is conceivable that there might not be another opening on the court for years, pushing the struggle over the direction of the courts down to fights over filling open appellate and district court seats. That is where the real trench warfare has been waged for the past two decades and where it is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, Republicans have intensified their criticism of Biden administration nominees with backgrounds as public defenders as Republicans try to make a midterm case that Democrats are soft on crime.
They are not going to make it any easier for Democrats going forward, though if Democrats remain united and healthy, they can continue to confirm judges with their 50 votes and a willingness to consume floor time. But if Republicans win the Senate majority, they will no doubt pull back substantially on judicial confirmations and force Mr. Biden to find nominees more to their liking — if they choose to consider any nominees at all.
When they last held the Senate majority, Republicans not only blocked Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, from getting a hearing in 2016, but they also slowed approval of other judicial nominees to a trickle for the last two years of Mr. Obama’s tenure. It is unlikely things would be any different in 2023 if Republicans gained control during the Biden era.