The U.S. Senate confirmed a total of 132 district and circuit judges after a whirlwind series of late and even midnight sessions, Time reports. That is the most by any Congress in 35 years and helps secure a major part of President Barack Obama’s judicial legacy. The 305 Obama-nominated judges are also the most diverse group ever. “What Obama has done within terms of his judicial legacy is what no other president has ever done before and it’s doubtful that any future president is going to match it,” says Sheldon Goldman, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “Obama has diversified the bench in terms of gender, ethnicity, nationality to an extent never, ever, ever done before.”

Lawmakers negotiated Tuesday over a final batch of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees with Democrats hoping to win Senate confirmation for up to a dozen of them, the Associated Press reports. The Senate has approved 76 federal court of appeals and district court judges so far this year. Confirmation of 12 more would bring the total to 88 – the highest annual figure in 20 years. Senate leaders are hoping to end this year’s session as soon as tonight. WRCB-TV has the AP story.

A sweeping defense policy bill that would give President Barack Obama authority to expand the campaign against Islamic militants cleared a major hurdle yesterday, WRCB reports from the Associated Press. The Senate voted 85-14 to move ahead on the bill to authorize the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebels for two years, and it would provide $5 billion for the fight against Islamic extremists.

The House narrowly passed a $1.1 trillion spending package on Thursday that would fund most government operations for the fiscal year. The accord was reached just hours before the midnight deadline, in a 219-206 vote, amid the last-minute brinkmanship and bickering that has come to mark one of Congress’s most polarized — and least productive — eras, the New York Times reports. The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it in the coming days. Rep. Diane Black, R-Gallatin, was the only Middle Tennessee representative, Democrat or Republican, to vote for the bill.

Under a spending bill introduced in the Republican-led House, wealthy donors would be allowed to give almost $1.6 million per election cycle to political parties and their campaign committees. The comparable limit for 2014's elections was $194,400. The effort is the latest bid to weaken campaign finance rules passed after the Watergate scandal in the 1970s and updated a decade ago. It follows three Supreme Court rulings that gave rise to free-spending super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from people and corporations alike, and an increased role for outside groups to shape the outcome of elections. The proposal has potential for both the Republican and Democratic parties. WRCB has more from the Associated Press.

Republicans and Democrats yesterday agreed on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and delay a politically-charged struggle over President Barack Obama's new immigration policy until the new year. Speaker John Boehner said he hoped for a vote on the measure on Thursday, and officials expressed confidence they could overcome opposition from tea party-backed Republicans and avoid a government shutdown. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has more.

House Republicans today issued a stern rebuke to President Barack Obama over immigration, passing a bill declaring his executive actions to curb deportations "null and void and without legal effect,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The bill stands little or no chance of advancing through the Senate, so is mostly symbolic. Obama's executive actions last month will extend deportation relief and work permits to some 4 million immigrants here without documents, mostly those who have been in the country more than five years and have children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.

Tennessee Rep. Steven Fincher’s communications director resigned today amid a backlash over remarks critical of President Obama’s daughters she made on Facebook, the Washington Post reports. Elizabeth Lauten had taken the girls to task regarding their appearance at the president’s annual Turkey pardoning event. After saying they should try “showing a little class,” the aide said the two should “Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”

House Republicans today filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over unilateral actions on the health care law that they say are abuses of the president’s executive authority. The suit accuses the administration of unlawfully postponing a requirement that larger employers offer health coverage to their full-time employees or pay penalties. It also challenges the payment of roughly $175 billion to insurance companies for subsides to low income customers. The New York Times has more.

BakerHostetler is no longer representing House Republicans in their suit alleging President Barack Obama overstepped his powers by using executive actions to revise the health care law, the ABA Journal reports. The new firm handling the case is Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. The lead lawyer will be William Burck, who is co-head of Quinn Emanuel’s Washington, D.C., office. Some suspect that BakerHostetler’s David Rivkin withdrew from the case amid fears it could drive away other clients. Several weeks ago a late night comedy show featured a parody commercial for the firm.