Just before senators packed their bags and headed out for a seven-week vacation, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Senate Republicans to vote to confirm more than a dozen federal district judge nominees — some of whom have been waiting since last year.

“It would take no time to confirm these judges,” Warren said Thursday before the Senate. “Fourteen states will be left without vital judges because of the Republican blockade.”

The 16 judicial appointees have passed through the Judiciary Committee and received bipartisan support, Warren said. Still, no vote was held.

“At a certain point, reasonable people have to ask: Why are Republicans actually doing this?” Warren said. “Is it so that if Donald Trump is elected president he will be able to nominate more judges?”


Warren, who has feuded with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for the past few months, accused Trump of attacking “the integrity of federal judges” for refusing “to bend the law to suit Trump’s personal financial interests.”

The senator warned of the dangers of allowing Trump to usher in a new set of nominees if he were to win the presidential election.

She also reprimanded Republicans for their refusal to hold a vote, claiming that their attitude set a precedent for Trump’s disrespectful treatment of judges.

“He got it from you,” she said. “From the Republicans in the senate and their decision to turn scores of highly qualified, non-partisan judicial appointees into political footballs.”

Warren ended her speech with a piece of advice for Republicans who say they want to stand up to Trump.

“Confirm these highly qualified, noncontroversial judges,” she said. “Do it now, before shutting off the lights and leaving town.”

Watch Warren’s speech before the Senate here: