4) How has the Republican party used their congressional advantage to advance President

Trump's judge nominees. (Nuclear option & shortening debate) How does that work?

The Republican party currently have a majority in the US Senate. However, they need to ally with some Democratic senators to achieve a filibuster-proof majority which requires 60/100 votes to advance president's judge nominees.

To avoid the rarely successful alliance, Republican senators employed some parliamentary procedures like nuclear option to shorten debates and overcome the protest of the Democrat senators.

Explanation:

Nuclear option: parliamentary procedure that allows the majority party of the US Senate to override a standing rule of the Senate by a simple majority of 51 votes.