With Democratic support, Senate confirms Antonio Pozos to the federal bench in Pennsylvania
Two Democrats, including his home-state Senator John Fetterman, supported his confirmation.
The Senate on Thursday afternoon confirmed the nomination of Antonio Pozos to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Two Democrats — Senators Dick Durbin and John Fetterman — voted with Republicans in favor of Pozos’ confirmation. Senator Jeanne Shaheen voted to invoke cloture on his nomination yesterday, but she missed the confirmation vote today.
The nomination of Pozos moved forward last month when Senator Fetterman returned his blue slip — allowing Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley to include Pozos on a June 10 hearing agenda. A spokesperson for Senator Fetterman, at the time, reportedly said that he would decide whether to support Pozos’ confirmation “when the time comes.”
That time was today, and Senator Fetterman supported him. He voted yesterday to invoke cloture on Pozos’ nomination as well. Senator Fetterman also voted yesterday to confirm Michael Martin to the Eastern District of Michigan. Martin’s confirmation garnered the support of 11 Senate Democrats (including Senator Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats).
In total, 20 Senate Democrats (including Senator King) have voted for at least one of Trump’s lifetime judicial nominees during his second term. Senator Durbin, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has voted to confirm the most (11) of any Democratic senator. That includes about a quarter of all district court nominees.
During his hearing, Pozos refused to say that President Joe Biden received more popular votes. Instead, he said that Biden was “certified as the winner” and agreed with Martin’s response that Biden won “as a matter of law.” He also would not say whether the Capitol was attacked on January 6, stating only that there was “violence and trespass” that day. When pressed further, he said he “would hesitate to characterize what occurred at the Capitol.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal was not happy with how Pozos and other nominees responded to his questions during the hearing, calling it a “new script” to avoid directly responding. He said that Trump “declines to accept the truth that he lost the 2020 election. You are protecting the lie by failing to acknowledge the truth, and it all goes to your independence. If you’re unwilling to show us that you’re independent of the president at this early stage of your service, you disqualify yourself as judicial nominees.”
Later, in response to written questions, Pozos said that “Under the process specified by the Constitution and federal law, Congress certified Joseph R. Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, and he served as the 46th President of the United States. Accordingly, as a matter of law, he was elected to the office of the President in 2020.” And when asked in writing about January 6, Pozos dodged again. “As I stated in my testimony, I understand from public reporting that trespass and violence occurred at the Capitol, and I denounce violence against law enforcement and participants in the political process,” Pozos wrote. “As a judicial nominee, however, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on matters of political controversy, and which are or may be the subject of pending litigation.”
Pozos now has a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.