WASHINGTON (CN) — Threats from Republican lawmakers to do away with bipartisanship on the Senate Judiciary Committee went unfulfilled for the third week in a row Wednesday, as the panel met to consider a slate of judicial nominees — including two with GOP support.
Things looked dicey for the upper chamber’s legal affairs panel late last month, as Republicans vowed to grind committee business to a halt in response to Democrats’ ongoing inquiry into ethical standards at the Supreme Court. GOP lawmakers walked out of a Judiciary Committee vote Nov. 30 during which the panel authorized subpoenas for a pair of influential conservatives tied to the probe.
Although committee Republicans, including panel deputy Senator Lindsey Graham, threatened to withhold support for White House judicial nominees in retaliation to last month’s subpoena vote, that obstruction had yet to materialize during a confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Two of the prospective federal jurists who testified before the panel — Northern District of Indiana nominees Gretchen Lund and Cristal Brisco — had the backing of the Hoosier State’s Republican Senate delegation, Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin said during opening remarks.
Durbin, who has long urged greater bipartisanship in filling judicial vacancies, thanked Indiana Senators Mike Braun and Todd Young for “working together in good faith to fill these and many other vacancies in their state.”
The Illinois Democrat noted that the committee was making similar progress in other states, pointing out that Wednesday’s meeting marked the third week in a row that the panel has considered judicial nominees with bipartisan support.
“I look forward to seeing more of the same in the new year,” he said.
Last month’s committee scuffle went completely unmentioned by Graham, the panel’s Republican ranking member, who instead focused his opening remarks on the ongoing congressional deadlock over border security and aid for Ukraine.
The South Carolina Republican had been a vocal critic of Democrats’ effort to issue subpoenas for Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo, powerful and wealthy conservative figures who some lawmakers argue had improper relationships with Supreme Court justices.
Graham joined his colleagues in walking out of the Nov. 30 vote, but not before telling his Democratic colleagues that their move would “fundamentally change the way the committee operates.”
Some committee Republicans questioned the legitimacy of the subpoena vote, which passed 11-0 in the absence of any GOP lawmakers. Others forecast that Democrats would not have the votes on the closely divided Senate floor to enforce the legal summonses.
Although some of the nominees who went under the Judiciary Committee’s microscope Wednesday enjoyed bipartisan support, others faced sharp questioning from Republicans.
Some of the lawmakers’ most ardent criticism was levied toward Nicole Berner, tapped by the White House to fill a vacancy on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Berner, who at the time of her nomination was general counsel for the Service Employees International Union, attracted scrutiny from committee Republicans who called attention to her handling of sexual misconduct allegations against Dave Regan, who at the time was president of local union affiliate United Healthcare Workers West.
Citing a 2019 report about the misconduct allegations, Utah Senator Mike Lee suggested she had not disclosed her involvement in the case to the Judiciary Committee, had communicated with the alleged victim and refused to attend a deposition or investigate the matter.
Berner told Lee she was acting in her capacity as the union’s general counsel. “As a lawyer for my client, I zealously advocated for my client in those matters, as in every other matter,” she said. Further, Berner explained that she was not counsel to the local affiliate at the center of the sexual misconduct allegations.
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