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The United States Senate voted 51 to 27 on Thursday, November 12, to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Daniel Desmond Domenico to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, clearing the way for a final confirmation vote.
The vote to invoke cloture — the procedural step that ends debate and moves a nomination to a final vote — was recorded as Roll Call Vote No. 261. Domenico’s nomination now awaits a confirmation vote in the full Senate.
Domenico serves as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, a post he has held since Trump first appointed him to the federal bench in his first term. The Senate confirmed him to that seat in April 2019 by a vote of 57 to 42. Trump nominated him on May 12, 2026, to the Tenth Circuit seat being vacated by Judge Timothy Tymkovich, for whom Domenico clerked more than two decades ago. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination on July 23 by a 12 to 10 vote.
The advance came on the same day the Senate confirmed another Trump judicial nominee, Gregory Cook, to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by 49 to 27.
The vote lands as Senate Republicans race the calendar. Dozens of Trump nominees remain awaiting action, including roughly two dozen judicial nominees, and Democrats — who won control of the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections — are widely expected to block additional appeals court nominees when they take the majority in January, according to Bloomberg Law. A White House official told Bloomberg Law the White House expects all pending judicial nominees to be confirmed this year, adding that Senate Republicans cannot leave any circuit court vacancies for the incoming Democratic majority. Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent the Senate home for the week with well over 150 Trump nominees still awaiting confirmation.
Domenico’s elevation has drawn opposition. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet opposes it, although he voted to confirm Domenico to the district court in 2019. The group People For the American Way has also opposed the nomination, pointing to Domenico’s rulings on immigration detention. Domenico faced Democratic criticism during his confirmation hearing over rulings that favored the Trump administration in immigrant detention cases.
If confirmed, Domenico would hold a lifetime seat on the Tenth Circuit, which hears federal appeals from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.