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A spokeswoman for Inhofe said he had a “family situation.”

The postponed vote was initially scheduled for Thursday at noon.

Inhofe's absence leaves Republicans short of the 50 votes needed to let Vice President Pence break a tie and confirm Farr.

With Republicans holding a 51-49 majority, that means Farr cannot lose an additional Republican senator if all Democrats oppose him, as they're expected to do.

He said after the initial vote that he had not made up his mind if he would support confirming Farr, who he spoke with on Wednesday. Scott said he wanted to speak with the author of a Justice Department memo detailing what role Farr played on the Senate campaign for the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). Farr's nomination aside, Scott warned that the Republican Party is not doing enough to bridge the country's racial divide.

"We're not doing a very good job of avoiding the obvious potholes on race in America and we ought to be more sensitive," Scott said, adding that there were picks other than Farr for the district court seat.