Judge Nancy Maldonado’s 47-43 confirmation vote to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit happened the Monday after the July 4 recess, when eight Republicans and two Democrats were absent.

Some court watchers say Senate Democratic leaders could use a similar strategy–-scheduling a vote around possible Republican absences–-to push forward lawyer Adeel Mangi’s nomination to the Third Circuit, which has languished amid Republican attacks that have bled over to a few Democrats.