WASHINGTON (CN) - The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nominations of 44 of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees, resuming the efforts of the Republican-controlled Senate to stock the federal judiciary with Trump selections.
Of the 44 judges the committee approved on Wednesday, 19 received approval in the last Congress, but were not confirmed before the end of the year. As is Senate practice, all nominees who were not approved were sent back to the White House and Trump eventually chose to renominate many of them last month.
Among the 25 who received approval for the first time, six are up for seats on federal appeals courts, including two nominees each to the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, as well as one to the Third Circuit and one to the Fourth Circuit.
Allison Jones Rushing, a partner at the Washington, D.C. firm Williams Connolly who is up for the Fourth Circuit position, faced questions from senators about her experience and associations with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been labeled an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Rushing has only been practicing law since 2009, having joined the firm after clerking for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Rushing also clerked for then-10th Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch and D.C. Circuit Judge David Sentelle, spending a year at Williams Connolly as an associate before taking the clerkship with Thomas.
The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary typically recommends nominees have 12 years of experience as a lawyer before taking the bench, but gave Rushing a qualified rating nevertheless.
When asked about her experience in response to questions submitted in writing after her nomination hearing, Rushing said her practice at Williams Connolly has given her extensive experience that will serve her well on the appeals court, including filing more than 45 briefs to the Supreme Court and working on 50 appeals in various courts.
"I have litigated a wide variety of cases that reflects the variety of subjects that come before the court of appeals," Rushing wrote. "For example, I have handled criminal cases and prisoner litigation, cases under the bankruptcy and tax laws, intellectual property, products liability, commercial litigation, qui tam actions, proceeding under various federal statutes and constitutional issues."
She also cited letters of support from the partners at her firm and from people with whom she clerked on the Supreme Court.
Rushing was a legal intern at the Alliance Defense Fund, later renamed the Alliance Defending Freedom, in the summer of 2005 and told the committee she has since given speeches to the group's interns about their careers.
She disagreed with the characterization of the organization as a hate group, telling the committee that multiple Alliance Defending Freedom alumni have gone on to prominent careers, including some members of the committee. She said during her time at the organization she did not see "anyone expressing or advocating hate."
"I do not think members of this committee or large reputable law firms would work with a hate group," Rushing wrote. "I certainly would not."
Rushing's nomination headed to the Senate floor after a 12-10 party-line vote.
Eric Miller, who is up for a seat on the Ninth Circuit, also faced questions about his legal practice, which has included a number of cases in which he has gone against Native American tribes in court.
The National Congress of American Indians and the Native American Rights Fund have opposed Miller's nomination, approving a resolution in October accusing him of building his career "on mounting repeated challenges to tribal sovereignty, lands, religious freedom and the core attribute of federal recognition of tribal existence."