Correction appended at bottom.

Two of Georgia's federal judicial nominees are in limbo after their nominations expired at the end of the 2017 U.S. Congressional session without confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

A spokeswoman for Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, confirmed that the nominations of Georgia Court of Appeals Judges Elizabeth “Lisa” Branch and William Ray II to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, respectively, have expired because they were not confirmed by a vote of the full Senate before Congress adjourned for the year. But the spokeswoman said that Perdue—who introduced the nominees at their confirmation hearings—still supports them, should the White House renominate them for the posts.

The nomination of Dentons partner J. Randolph “Randy” Evans as ambassador to Luxembourg also has expired because the lawyer's nomination was not voted on by the full Senate before it adjourned for the year.

Branch testified Dec. 13 at a confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. President Donald Trump nominated her in September to fill an open slot on the Eleventh Circuit that became vacant when Judge Frank Hull, after two decades on the federal appellate bench, decided to take senior status. The committee did not vote to send Branch's nomination to the Senate floor for a vote before Congress adjourned for the year.

Ray had his confirmation hearing Oct. 13. The Judiciary Committee, in a roll call vote that split along party lines, on Oct. 19 forwarded Ray's nomination to the Senate floor to await a final confirmation vote that never took place.

Evans, whom Trump nominated in September, had his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Nov. 1. On Dec. 5, the committee approved sending his nomination to the full Senate with the proviso that Evans would respond to any request to appear and testify before any other Senate committee.

The nominations of Branch, Ray and Evans stalled because of a Senate rule that calls for the expiration of nominations that are pending when the Senate adjourns for more than 30 days. Without unanimous consent of the full Senate, those nominations are then returned to the president, who must nominate each candidate again for new consideration. Congress adjourned Dec. 21.

Nearly 100 Trump nominations expired at the end of 2017 and must be resubmitted, according to online political news publication The Hill.

It is not the first time Georgia nominations have expired. In 2012, the nomination of Jill Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit by President Barack Obama expired along with 32 other judicial nominees across the country. The president renominated Pryor in January 2013. In announcing the renominations, the president chastised the Senate for failing to act on the nominations before they expired at the end of 2012.

In January 2011, Obama nominated U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker and Natasha Perdew Silas, an attorney with the Federal Defender Program in Atlanta, to fill vacant judgeships in the Northern District of Georgia. He withdrew both nominations when they expired at the end of 2011 after Georgia's senators refused to lend their support to Silas.

In 2013, the nomination of Georgia Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs to the federal bench in Atlanta also expired after the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to approve his nomination. Obama chose not to renominate Boggs, who was then a judge on the state Court of Appeals.

Correction: A later version of this story erroneously reported that the nominations of Michael Brown, Tilman “Tripp” Self and Stan Baker for federal district court seats had expired. They did not. The Senate, by unanimous  consent, in December agreed to hold over those nominations for further action in 2018.