Battle over Trump court pick fuels Senate tensions

The decision by Republicans to move forward with a controversial circuit court nominee amid the coronavirus pandemic is fueling tensions in the Senate.

The Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Justin Walker’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday as GOP senators say they are eager to start moving President Trump’s court picks — long viewed as a top priority for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

But the decision has sparked a backlash from Democrats who have publicly fumed over the decision by McConnell to bring the Senate back to focus, largely, on nominations and not a fifth coronavirus relief bill. 

“If he wanted to bring us back for … something meaningful related to this health crisis, I accept it. I ran for this job,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a member of the committee. But he called the decision to bring the Senate back to hold a hearing on Walker “the worst in swamp arrogance.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans from the Senate floor, saying that they returned to Washington to confirm “right-wing judges.”

“Including a former protégé of the Republican leader who was rated ‘unqualified’ by the American Bar Association … someone who probably 80 percent or 90 percent of Americans would reject if they knew his views, but he is a protégé of the leader. We are rushing him through. We’re not paying attention to COVID[-19],” Schumer added, in an apparent reference to Walker.

Walker is the only nominee currently on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s agenda for Wednesday.

His nomination is expected to be the biggest judicial fight that the Senate will have this year, absent a vacancy on the Supreme Court. The D.C. Circuit Court is widely viewed as the second most influential court in the country because its jurisdiction includes Congress and government agencies.

Walker was confirmed in October to serve as a judge for the Western District of Kentucky, and both McConnell and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh attended a swearing-in ceremony for him that was held in March.

The American Bar Association (ABA) at the time rated him “not qualified” for the position, citing his lack of relevant experience.

“The Standing Committee believes that Mr. Walker does not presently have the requisite trial or litigation experience or its equivalent,” the group wrote.

But in a boon to Republicans, the ABA wrote in a letter to senators on Tuesday that a majority of the standing committee viewed him as “well qualified” for his nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court.

“The Standing Committee is of the opinion that Judge Walker is ‘Well Qualified’ to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,” the standing committee wrote.

Previewing the likely showdown both in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor, Walker was confirmed for his current position along party lines.

Durbin said he planned to press Walker on what had changed about his qualifications since the fight over his district court nomination.

“Now after his six-month career as a federal trial judge he’s obviously, in the eyes of Sen. McConnell, worthy of a promotion for the second highest court in the land. I’d like to know what he learned as a federal district court judge in Kentucky. I’d like him to explain some of his public utterances which don’t display a judicial temperament,” Durbin added.

Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.), in a series of tweets on Tuesday about Walker’s nomination, said that McConnell “instead of deliberating on a COVID-19 response … has set a Senate agenda that focuses on rushing a hearing on an inexperienced and partisan nominee to the D.C. Circuit.”

“Courts matter and we cannot allow Leader McConnell to rush unqualified, partisan judges to the federal bench while we should be focused on delivering the pandemic response Americans need,” Coons tweeted, adding that Republicans shouldn’t “rubber stamp” Walker’s nomination.

Democrats and their outside groups have ramped up pressure on Republicans to oppose, or at least slow, Walker’s nomination.

They have focused on his remarks on the Affordable Care Act. CNN reported over the weekend that Walker, at an event in Kentucky earlier this year, appeared to take aim at the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling that upheld the Obama-era health care law.

“The greatest words you can hear from Justice Kennedy are: ‘You’re hired.’ … And the worst words are: ‘The chief justice thinks this might be a tax,’ ” he said, according to CNN.

Democrats have urged Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to delay the hearing, arguing that judicial nominations — lifetime appointments that only need to be confirmed by the end of the current Congress — could wait until later in the year.

But Durbin on Tuesday acknowledged the obvious: that Republicans were pushing forward with the nomination.

“Sen. Graham and I work on many things but when it comes to a command from his majority leader, I’m sure he’ll do what he’s asked to do,” he said.

Asked if he thought Republicans could be persuaded to vote against Walker, he said he hadn’t talked to them but “all of them voted for him last time.”

If Republicans stick together on Walker’s nomination, Democrats are powerless to stop him from being confirmed. Under a rules change implemented by the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, executive nominees and most judicial nominees only require a simple majority to be confirmed.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Walker could lose three senators and still get through if Vice President Pence broke a tie.

Asked about the objections from Democrats, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the committee and an adviser to McConnell, questioned if senators should be “curled up in a fetal position and just demonstrate to the rest of the country that they shouldn’t show up and do their job if they can do so safely.”

“It seems to me that there’s a lot of whining going on,” he added.