How long does it take to confirm a Supreme Court justice?

Alexis Egeland | The Republic | azcentral.com

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Bridget Bade, an Arizona native, to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a bipartisan vote.

Bade was confirmed on a 78-21 vote. President Donald Trump nominated her in August. She passed through committee in February and the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the vote Monday.

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Martha McSally, R-Ariz., both voted to confirm Bade's nomination.

Bade will replace Judge Barry Silverman, a nominee of President Bill Clinton's who has been wanting to retire since late 2016.

The newly confirmed judge previously has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for Arizona, and currently serves as a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Arizona. She got her undergraduate and law degrees from Arizona State University.

Carl Tobias, the Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said Silverman was more conservative than the typical Clinton judicial pick, and Bade is more moderate than the typical Trump nominee.

“It’s kind of fitting,” he said.

Bade’s bipartisan support probably is due to her more moderate nature, coming off to Democrats as less of a threat, Tobias said. But it could also be partially attributed to the nomination hearing she shared with a much more controversial appointee, Eric Miller, he said.

Miller was appointed to fill a Washington seat in the 9th Circuit, but he is far more conservative than Bade. So when it came time for the hearing to question the nominees, the majority of the Democrats’ attention was directed at Miller. Tobias said that, along with her more moderate demeanor, likely helped her get through the confirmation process.

“I think the Democrats feel that she was a strong nominee, but that she wasn’t as extreme as say Miller or some of the others,” Tobias said. “I think they had a much higher comfort level with her.”

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Bade is one of 12 Trump nominees to the 9th Circuit. If all 12 are confirmed, they will take up around 40 percent of the bench in the long-liberal court.