(CNN) Sen. Jeff Flake's vow to block judicial nominees is significantly disrupting the Senate Judiciary Committee's plans to advance more of President Donald Trump's picks for the lower courts.

The committee's chairman, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, scrapped a Thursday meeting, according to an announcement from the committee. A Grassley aide cited the reason as Flake not backing off his threat to vote against all pending nominees until he gets a floor vote on a bill to protect special counsels like Robert Mueller from political interference. This is the second meeting in consecutive weeks the committee has scrapped, delaying 22 nominees from floor consideration by the end of the year.

That's because with Arizona Republican opposed to the nominees, they are unlikely to win a favorable vote in committee given that the GOP has a one-seat advantage on the panel. If they are not confirmed by year's end, the White House will have to renominate them next year.

On Wednesday, Flake stood by his commitment to not vote for judicial nominees until the Mueller bill gets a vote.

"We can have the markup, I will just vote no," Flake told CNN.

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