Judiciary Committee advances six more of Trump’s lifetime judicial nominees
On the eve of Juneteenth, Republicans advanced six white men with troubling civil rights records.
On Thursday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nominations of Benjamin Flowers (Sixth Circuit), Matthew Schwartz (Second Circuit), Mike Hendershot (Northern District of Ohio), Rob Jones (Southern District of Texas), Jeffrey Kuntz (Southern District of Florida), and John Marck (Southern District of Texas). The votes were all party-line.
The nominees, who are all white men, possess troubling records (see my previous coverage below) and have demonstrated their loyalty to Trump in a variety of ways. All six refused to say that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election and dodged questions about the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Schwartz is one of Trump’s personal lawyers. His nomination now advances to the Senate floor just days after the Senate confirmed Justin Smith, another Trump lawyer, to serve on the Eighth Circuit. Last year, Trump lawyer Emil Bove was appointed to the Third Circuit. This is not normal.
Kuntz, as a judge in Florida, ruled in Trump’s favor while seeking a federal judicial nomination from him. His efforts clearly worked. For that, he was hit with an ethics complaint last month.
Still, during his opening remarks at today’s committee meeting, Chair Chuck Grassley called the judicial nominees “highly qualified,” saying they “each have strong credentials” and “a longstanding commitment to the rule of law.”
Chair Grassley also called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for not returning a blue slip or considering any nominee for US Attorney or district court seats in New York — accusing the senator of refusing “to even meet with the administration to find a path forward.” Leader Schumer, he said, has “never responded to their proposals or negotiated any of these vacancies. This is not sustainable.” He criticized Senate Democrats for not allowing nominees to be confirmed by voice vote and unanimous consent requests, wasting valuable Senate floor time in the process instead of “legislating meeting the needs of the American people.”
“Our Senate practices and norms will only survive if there’s good faith on all sides,” Chair Grassley said. “I’m urging all colleagues in the Senate to put an end to the obstruction. If the blue slip practice is going to continue, and it’s going to continue as long as I’m chairman — and so many of my colleagues have also insisted that — Senate Democrats must stop bad faith obstructions. And I hope they can do it right now.”
Ranking Member Dick Durbin was not at today’s markup because he is attending the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse took his place, using his opening remarks to say that combining Todd Blanche’s attorney general confirmation hearing with an oversight hearing of the Department of Justice “would be a grave mistake for the committee.”
In response to Chair Grassley’s discussion of committee norms and blue slips, Senator Whitehouse called out the ways in which US Attorney nominees are not moving through the Judiciary Committee under normal procedure. As Senator Whitehouse said:
One norm is that US Attorneys come through this committee after a process of consultation before they get to run US Attorney’s offices. Over and over again, we see these slippery deals where acting US Attorneys are appointed, and then the first assistant is fired, and when the time runs out on the acting US Attorney, they slip back into the first attorney position and leave a vacancy. It’s an obvious scam to get around this committee’s norms. And we have put up with this. It didn’t happen once. It didn’t happen twice. It has happened over and over and over and over again. And on top of that, we’ve seen US Attorneys called out for misconduct over and over and over again. None of this is normal.
Following these remarks, Senator Whitehouse voted to advance the nomination of Don Berthiaume, nominated to serve as inspector general of the Department of Justice. Yesterday, when appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Berthiaume refused to say that President Biden won the 2020 election or say that the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6.
“I’m likely to be the only Democrat voting aye on this nominee, but he does have a record of integrity as an inspector general. Integrity is a quality sorely lacking in this Department of Justice,” Senator Whitehouse said. “And while I may find that I should be very disappointed in my vote here, I will be voting yes on this individual.”
Senator Mazie Hirono also voted aye by proxy. Then the clerk announced the vote as 14-9 — which is more than the number of senators on the committee.
Additional reading
Instead of writing more here about the judicial nominees’ records, I’ll refer you to my previous coverage linked below.
Flowers
Trump nominates anti-civil rights extremist Benjamin Flowers to the Sixth Circuit
Benjamin Flowers’ writing makes clear why Trump wants him on the Sixth Circuit
Schwartz
Flowers and Schwartz
Trump’s judicial nominees seem to share his white supremacist vision for America
“You both know better”: Trump’s loyalist circuit court nominees dodge questions during hearing
In responses to written questions, Trump’s circuit court nominees continue dodging
Hendershot, Jones, Kuntz, and Marck
Trump announces lifetime judicial nominees in Florida, Ohio, and Texas
Judicial nominees remain silent as senator asks whether Trump can run for a third term
Four judicial nominees concede that Trump is not “eligible to be elected president” in 2028
Kuntz
The full Senate could begin consideration of these six nominees as soon as next week. One other lifetime judicial nominee, Kara Westercamp for the Court of International Trade, remains pending on the Senate floor.