Republicans on the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday began a push to consider and advance as many of Donald Trump's remaining judicial nominees as possible before Democrats take control of the chamber in January.

Senator Chuck Grassley, the committee's outgoing Republican chairman, dismissed Democratic complaints that Republicans were bypassing longstanding committee practices to ‌speed nominees toward confirmation, saying, "I know what's coming."

"I want to be very clear: Some Democrats so despise President Trump that for the first time in our nation’s history they’re planning to stonewall a president’s ability to appoint judges," Grassley said.