Eight Democrats vote to confirm a lifetime judge who wouldn’t say Biden won in 2020
What are we doing here?
The Senate on Tuesday afternoon voted (52-38) to confirm the nomination of Sheria Clarke to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Eight Democrats voted in favor of confirmation.
Clarke is the first judicial nominee in more than three months to receive bipartisan support on the Senate floor, earning the affirmative votes of Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Ruben Gallego, Maggie Hassan, Martin Heinrich, Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, and Sheldon Whitehouse. Senator Chris Coons, who recently voted to advance Clarke’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted against her confirmation today.
Nine Senate Republicans missed the confirmation vote, meaning Senate Democrats — had they all voted ‘no’ — could have blocked confirmation and forced a later vote.
To date, 19 Senate Democrats — including the eight who voted for Clarke — have voted to confirm at least one of Trump’s lifetime judicial nominees during his second term.
During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Clarke would not say who won the 2020 election — leading Senator Richard Blumenthal to call the nominees’ responses that day “Orwellian in their denial of reality.” He told all four nominees at the hearing that their answers were “an insult to this committee, but they also fundamentally show a complete lack of independence and backbone and impartiality, which are the fundamental requirements of a United States district court judge, or a judge on any panel.”
Senator Whitehouse also chimed in, saying “I hope you realize how ridiculous the four of you look — spouting these preposterous, canned answers in a forum in which, A, you’re supposed to tell the truth, and B, you’re supposed to demonstrate the judicial capacity to make independent, factual decisions in hard cases.”
Senator Whitehouse nonetheless voted to confirm Clarke today.
When asked in written questions for the record whether Trump lost the 2020 election, Clarke simply responded that “Joe Biden was certified the winner of the 2020 election.” When answering a similar question about whether Joe Biden won the election, she added that “It is my understanding that litigation is currently pending with respect to this question” — and cited the judicial canons to justify not responding. When asked about January 6, she said that as a nominee “it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the characterization of the events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, because it is a significant matter of political debate and also involves cases that are currently being litigated.”
When asked whether judges are “USA HATING” and “MONSTERS” for ruling against the administration, as Trump posted on Truth Social last May, Clarke said that “Under the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on political matters and ongoing litigation.” And when asked whether it’s a crime for a judge to rule against Trump’s desired outcome in a particular case, she wrote that “I would be remiss to comment on statements made by the President because the question calls for a response that requires me to express an opinion on a political matter. As a judicial nominee, it would be impermissible for me to opine on this issue.”
During the hearing last month, Senator Whitehouse actually called out Clarke in particular and said “it would be nice” if she could tell her “executive handlers” that she doesn’t need to debase herself during the confirmation process. Senator Whitehouse pointed out that she has the support of Senator Lindsey Graham, the second most senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee. He wanted her to say: “I think I’ll be okay. I don’t need to make myself ridiculous at your direction.” He said “It would be great if you could have said that. It’d be great if your answers were simple and honest here today. It’s really disappointing.”
Senator Durbin, on a number of occasions during Judiciary Committee proceedings, has called out nominees’ responses to these questions — but he also voted to confirm Clarke today. When he asked Eighth Circuit nominee Justin Smith about the 2020 election last month, for example, Senator Durbin noted that “the reason why we continue to engage in these political gymnastics is a question about whether or not you can ever say no to Donald Trump when it comes to any future service. And that is a basic concern.”
Clarke is the first woman of color nominated to a lifetime judgeship during Trump’s second term and becomes just the third Black woman appointed to the federal bench by this president — all to district court seats — since 2017.
I wrote to Durbin virtually weekly about getting rid of blue slips during the Biden administration, and getting every possible vacancy filled before the end of his term. We needed to protect the rule of law and the justice system. Of course, that never happened and he and Biden did nothing to protect the federal judiciary. We are now left with two federal systems of justice in the country - a decent one in the north with mostly fair, law-abiding judges, and in the south, a racist, white power-based one, with a few idiots thrown in also. Durbin is one of the leaders of the Democratic controlled opposition party, pretending to put up a fight but caving in every time. He's lucky he retired, because he wouldn't have won. We need to get rid of the rest of these collaborators.
They are going to confirm judges even if they win the Senate aren’t they?