Senate

Vance leads new conservative pledge to block Biden nominees

by Alexander Bolton - 06/13/24 11:02 AM ET

Stefan Jeremiah, Associated Press
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks at a press conference across the street from the Manhattan criminal court, May 13, 2024, in New York.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is leading a group of Senate conservatives who unveiled a pledge Thursday to block the fast-tracking of President Biden’s judicial nominees and U.S. attorney nominations in “response to the current administration’s persecution” of former President Trump.

The senators who signed the pledge say they will “not permit the fast-tracking of nominees who have suggested the Trump prosecutions were reasonable [or] endorsed President Trump’s guilt in these sham proceedings,” referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) prosecution of Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

They say their blockade will extend to nominees who “joined or supported organizations that celebrated the indictment of President Trump, supported the ‘get-Trump’ candidacy of Alvin Bragg, or supported lawfare or censorship in other ways.”

They say the pledge will last until Election Day, “when the American people will have the opportunity to decisively reject attempts to settle political disputes through the legal system.”

The signatories also include Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).

“Democrats have WEAPONIZED our Justice System to go after their top political opponent, President Trump. My colleagues and I will NOT ALLOW fast-tracking of Biden’s judicial and U.S. Attorney nominees until the American people make their voices heard on Election Day,” Tuberville posted on the social platform X.

The nominees affected include Sarah French Russell, tapped to serve as district judge for the District of Connecticut; Mustafa Kasubhai, in line to be district judge for the District of Oregon; and Amir Ali and Sparkle Sooknanan, both slated to become district judges for the District of Columbia.

It also potentially affects nominees for U.S. attorney positions for the Northern District of Ohio, the District of Massachusetts and the Northern District of Iowa.

The latest pledge follows one circulated last week by Lee in which GOP senators vowed to oppose any increase in nonsecurity-related funding for the Biden administration or “any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare.”

They also vowed to oppose fast-tracking “Democratic legislation or authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people.”

At least 13 Republican senators have signed that pledge.