Senator Bennet opposes elevation of Daniel Domenico, chief judge in Colorado, to the 10th Circuit
He previously supported Domenico’s confirmation to the district court. Not this time.
On Wednesday, when Tenth Circuit nominee Daniel Domenico of Colorado appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, his home-state senators were not there to introduce him. Ranking Member Dick Durbin entered a statement into the record from Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, but the substance of that statement was not known.
Today, Senator Bennet’s office provided that statement to Nomination Notes, clarifying that the senator does not support Domenico’s nomination. When Trump nominated Domenico to the District of Colorado during his first term, Senator Bennet returned his blue slip on Domenico’s nomination and ultimately voted to confirm him in 2019. This time around, his vote will be different.
“When Judge Domenico last came before the Senate for a nomination to the U.S. District Court, his record was based primarily on his tenure as Colorado’s Solicitor General and his work in private practice,” Senator Bennet said in the statement submitted to the committee’s hearing record. “Today, we have the benefit of more than seven years of judicial rulings and a more complete view of the manner in which he approaches his responsibilities — including Judge Domenico’s recent decision upholding the government’s ability to detain individuals in immigration custody without a bond hearing, a position at odds with every other federal district judge and magistrate judge in Colorado.”
During his hearing yesterday, Senator Durbin asked Domenico about his rulings related to ICE’s mass detention policy. According to Politico’s database, Domenico has ruled in eight of these cases — each time siding with the Trump administration.
“For you to be in a position that you are and to deny, consistently, opportunities for people to have bond and to be released if they are no danger — but to rule consistently against immigrants — is not a good thing to encourage on the bench,” Senator Durbin said.
When Domenico was confirmed to the district court, he was supported by four Democratic senators, including Senator Bennet and former Senators Doug Jones, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema. No current Senate Democrat, other than Senator Bennet, voted to confirm him in 2019. And Senator Bennet, this time around, has voted against the confirmation of all 45 lifetime judicial nominees approved by the Senate since last year (so has Senator John Hickenlooper, Colorado’s other Democratic senator).
“An appellate level role on the federal circuit is fundamentally different from and more consequential than that of a district court judge, and serious questions remain about his interpretations of constitutional and statutory text,” Senator Bennet’s statement said. “Moreover, we are considering Judge Domenico for this new position at a moment when the Trump Administration has spent years undermining the rule of law and eroding the independence of the federal courts. I cannot support his nomination in this context.”
While home-state senators can no longer block circuit court nominees by withholding a blue slip, Senator Bennet’s opposition to Domenico is an important signal to Senate Democrats. Domenico’s record on the bench, his performance at yesterday’s hearing, and Senator Bennet’s opposition will likely (or hopefully) deter Democrats from supporting him. Indeed, to date, no Senate Democrat has supported any circuit court nominee during Trump’s second term.
In responses to questions from Senator Richard Blumenthal during yesterday’s hearing, Domenico would not say that President Biden won the 2020 election or that the U.S. Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021. Senator Blumenthal wasn’t pleased. He said that as a lifetime judge already, Domenico has “the independence right now to say what really factually happened in the 2020 election, and you are evading that question with the same scripted, canned answer that everyone nominated so far recently has given.”
“I’m willing to say that if I were in your courtroom and I gave these kinds of answers to you, as a judge on the federal bench, you would throw me out of your courtroom,” Senator Blumenthal told him. “And I’m disappointed that you’re not willing to be more forthcoming as to the facts here, because one of the key questions about any nominee for the federal bench is independence of mind and action.”
Further action on Domenico’s nomination will have to wait until July. The Senate is now on recess until July 13, so the earliest his nomination can advance out of the Judiciary Committee is likely Thursday, July 23.