WASHINGTON (AP) — Several Republican senators are complicating the White House’s plan to leave a lasting imprint on the judiciary well after President Donald Trump left office by throwing up roadblocks to a handful of his judicial nominees in the final weeks of their Senate majority.
In Texas, outgoing senator John Cornyn has expressed reservations about a senior Justice Department official being appointed to a federal judgeship in the Dallas area. Arkansas’ two senators, both Republicans, pitted a Trump nominee for a powerful appeals court seat, forcing the White House to withdraw Trump’s pick this week. And in Oklahoma, a appointed Republican senator made sudden objections to a district court nominee after giving him the green light.
At the center of this effort are Cornyn and outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who both serve on the Judiciary Committee and use their influence to effectively block nominations on behalf of Republicans who are not on the panel. Even if it comes after midterm losses that weakened Trump’s political power standing, this quiet judicial fight is more about Republicans asserting their powers over the administration’s selection of judges, which has long been a problem. cherished prerogative of senatorsespecially for their home states.
Asked about his opposition to the Arkansas and Oklahoma nominees, Tillis said he wanted the senators and their opinions on potential judges to be heard by the administration. His message to the White House, Tillis said, was: “Don’t treat us like a manufacturing plant. Treat us like the United States Senate.”
“I do not pass judgment on the merit of the candidate. I denounce a fault in a process”, Tillis said in an interview with Associated Press. “And the sooner the White House gets that, the more productive the next two years will be. If they don’t do it, they’ll do it at their peril.”
Arkansas judge nominee abruptly removed
Trump had nominated Lee Rudofsky of Arkansas to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. But the White House abruptly withdrew the nomination Tuesday, after Cornyn and Tillis privately informed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that they would vote against Rudofsky in committee, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to confirm private deliberations.
Grassley was also forced to postpone a key committee vote Tuesday for Oklahoma judicial nominee Zachary West because of Tillis’ opposition on behalf of Sen. Alan Armstrong, one of the people said.
Obstacles for the White House arise Senate Republicans race to attempt to fill all remaining judicial vacancies this year, because they believe the new Democratic majority will have no interest in confirming Trump judges to lifetime appointments. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., told the AP last week that Democrats do not fill the bench with “crappy nominees”“, and Grassley developed an ambitious and aggressive confirmation timetable, much to the frustration of Democratic senators.
New Texas judicial nominee fast-tracked
Some of the nominations were pending ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, which saw Republicans lose both the House and Senate.
But at least one judicial vacancy in Texas is clearly being fast-tracked in the post-election rush. Elliot Gaiser, who heads the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, was first contacted by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s staff about becoming a federal judge on Nov. 4, the day after the election, according to his application questionnaire sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was not reviewed by a bipartisan federal judicial review panel traditionally used in Texas, Cornyn said.
“Trying to pry someone else up at the last minute for the vacant position in Dallas that hasn’t gone through that process, I think, is a concern,” Cornyn told the AP.
Cornyn also highlighted Gaiser’s ties to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results that culminated with the insurrection of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol. Gaiser, then a lawyer for Trump’s re-election bid, was advising the campaign on its election challenges at the time, according to testimony given to the Congressional Select Committee on January 6.
“I think there is a better choice because of some of the other candidates who have been carefully vetted and are available to serve,” Cornyn continued. “I definitely want to see us fill the seat.”
Arkansas senators did not approve the White House choice
In the meantime, nor John Boozman nor Tom Cotton, Arkansas’ two senators, had approved the appeals court nomination of Rudofsky, who currently holds a seat on the federal district court. Current Senate practice is that home state consent is not required for nominees to appeals courts, which span multiple states, although it is rare for a White House to pursue a judge who is not supported by home state senators of the same political party.
Boozman and Cotton reportedly supported another candidate, Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Cody Hiland. The judge said in August at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock that he interviewed specifically for the appeals court vacancy and was put through an extensive vetting process by the FBI, but was ultimately told by the White House Counsel’s Office that he was going to be appointed to a lower district court position. Hiland said in his August law school speech that he declined the offer.
In a brief interview, Boozman said only that “we talked with other people who were certainly as knowledgeable.” Cotton declined to comment when approached at the Capitol. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on why it withdrew Rudofsky’s nomination, although Hiland was nominated at the same time.
“The idea that you’re just going to flip — that (the) White House flipped two senators from this state — obviously other senators can see that happening to them if they sit back and watch that happen,” Cornyn said of Rudofsky in an interview before his nomination was withdrawn by the White House. “So I think there will be a lot of sympathy for the position of the two senators from Arkansas.”
One of the obstacles could only be temporary
Opposition to Oklahoma candidate Zachary West — a former Cruz Senate aide who now works in the Oklahoma attorney general’s office — could be temporary. Sen. Alan Armstrong had initially approved of the choice, but recently changed course and privately voiced his opposition to the nomination to other senators, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.
Armstrong himself, however, would not stay in Washington for long. He had been appointed to replace the senator. Markwayne Mullin when he became Homeland Security secretary. Newly elected Oklahoma Senator Kevin Hern is scheduled to be sworn in on November 30. Armstrong said Wednesday that his objections to West were “simply qualifications, relative to other candidates that we’ve suggested” and said the White House “basically ignored” other candidates recommended for the vacancy.
As of Wednesday, according to Grassley’s committee, 24 of Trump’s judicial nominees were awaiting confirmation in the Senate. So far in the president’s second term, the Senate has confirmed 57 judges, including 10 appeals court judges, 46 district judges and one member of the Court of International Trade.
Under Grassley, the Judiciary Committee has moved forward at what he considers the fastest pace since the Reagan administration.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Published Tuesday, Grassley urged the Senate to confirm as many of the remaining judicial nominees as possible, writing, “The stakes are far too high for Republicans to let up now.” » Outgoing Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., expressed similar sentiments.
Cornyn and Tillis say they share that goal, but that protecting Senate prerogative over judges was also important.
Asked if he was worried about angering the White House or Senate leadership with this tactic, Tillis said, “I don’t care. »
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed.
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