WASHINGTON (CN) — Three of President Biden’s judicial nominees went before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday amid an internal debate on the power vacuum left by Senator Dianne Feinstein who has been on a health-imposed hiatus from the panel since February.
On the docket for the Democrat-led judiciary committee this afternoon were President Joe Biden's picks for federal courts in Louisiana, Illinois and Maryland.
Louisiana Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy have both signed what's known as a blue slip to give their stamp of approval for Biden’s Eastern District of Louisiana nominee, Baton Rouge trial lawyer Darrel Papillion.
Panel chair Dick Durbin thanked the GOP lawmakers for their willingness to reach across the aisle.
“The blue-slip process has a long history, but there have been instances of success and failure in that process,” Durbin said. “We have an illustration of success today, and we’re happy to see evidence of it in the committee.”
Senator Cassidy, introducing Papillion, said that attorneys who worked with the nominee described him as intelligent, experienced and fair-minded. “It’s clear to me and to everyone that my team spoke to that Darrel has the experience and temperament to be an outstanding federal judge,” Cassidy said.
Kennedy, a fellow Louisiana Republican, joined in praising Papillion. “I haven’t looked it up, but I’m pretty sure Darrel is a Democrat,” the senator said, “and I mention it only because I have gotten so many letters in support of Mr. Papillion from Republican public officials, including most Republican members of our Louisiana Supreme Court.”
Kennedy reasoned that Papillion was a lawyer above all, rather than a politician or an activist. “I don’t even know if he’s ever made any campaign contributions,” he joked.
Durbin expressed gratitude that the Louisiana lawmakers and committee ranking member Lindsey Graham could work with a Democratic administration to advance well-qualified, bipartisan nominees to federal courts. Durbin noted that he had similarly worked with the Trump White House to fill every judicial vacancy through negotiation.
“I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find common ground when it comes to these issues,” Durbin said.
The Illinois Democrat’s comments come as his colleagues in the Senate are grappling with the request from California Senator Feinstein last week to be temporarily replaced on the upper chamber’s judiciary committee.
Feinstein, 89, has been convalescing in the Golden State since her shingles diagnosis in February — prompting calls from some congressional Democrats such as California Congressman Ro Khanna for the veteran lawmaker to step down, arguing that her absence puts President Biden’s judicial nominees at risk.
Although Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday he would move forward with a chamber vote to replace Feinstein, prominent Republicans have come out swinging against such a resolution, effectively putting the move in limbo given Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate.
Earlier Tuesday, the upper chamber’s minority leader, Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, quashed any Democratic hopes of replacing Feinstein on a bipartisan basis.
During remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell contended that giving Democrats another vote on the Judiciary Committee while the California lawmaker is out of town would allow them to ram through the Biden administration’s most extreme nominees.
“The supposed emergency is the Senate Democrats are unable to push through the small fraction of their nominees who are so extreme and unqualified that they cannot win a single Republican vote in committee,” the GOP leader said.
McConnell reasoned that Democrats would still be able to advance bipartisan judicial nominees in Feinstein’s absence.
At least three Republican members of the Judiciary Committee — Senators Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz — have already signaled that they would not support a resolution to replace the California Democrat.
“For 3 years, Dems have been trying to boot Dianne Feinstein off of the Judiciary Committee,” Cruz wrote in a Tweet Tuesday. “Now Dems are redoubling their efforts because they want to confirm more radical nominees! This is unprecedented, completely cynical, and deeply political,” the Texas Republican said.
While Republicans have considerable sway over the fate of Feinstein's committee work while she continues to hold office, the balance would shift if she resigns, at which point the job of picking her replacement would fall to the governor of California.
The two other Biden nominees considered by the Senate judiciary panel Tuesday were Jeremy Daniel, appointed for a seat on the Northern District of Illinois, and Brendan Hurson, who was nominated as a judge for the District of Maryland.
A vote on all three nominees has yet to be scheduled.
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