How Schumer is prepping for Trump 2.0

In less than a month, elected Democrats will find themselves with a lot less power in Washington, with a GOP-controlled House, Senate and White House resulting in a landscape in which their ability to tussle with President-elect Donald Trump will be largely rhetorical.

But if Dem leaders have learned one thing from Republicans over the years, it’s that sometimes, the judiciary can be the best bulwark against the opposing party getting what it wants. As our Anthony Adragna reported Friday, Senate Democrats have approved 235 of Biden’s judicial picks, eclipsing Trump's 234 first-term judicial nominations.

“I don’t know exactly what [Trump will] do. But I can tell you this: The judiciary will be one of our strongest — if not our strongest — barrier against what he does,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Playbook in an exclusive interview this week.

Four years ago, Schumer launched a plan (along with President Joe Biden) to use the party’s Senate majority to prioritize not just passing legislation, but also pushing through as many judicial nominations as possible.

The result?

“When we started out, we knew it would be a very difficult job to do more than Trump had done,” said Schumer. “But we did: We got 235 — more than a quarter of the federal judiciary was appointed by our Senate and by the president.”

Read the rest of POLITICO's interview with Schumer in Thursday's Playbook. And ICYMI, more judicial nominee coverage from the past week:

• Dems fight to Trump-proof the federal judiciary
• Biden vetoes bill that would have created dozens of new federal judge slots