Several years after losing a nail-biter reelection campaign, former Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi of New York found himself on the other side of the Capitol on Wednesday to audition for another job: federal judge.
His nomination, if successful, would mark an unusual path from Congress to state court judge to U.S. district court judge, one that left him defending his qualifications during a confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Brindisi sought to distance himself from his former job as a rank-and-file House lawmaker, repeatedly emphasizing his current role as a New York state jurist.
“On the bench, are you a politician or a judge?” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked at one point.
“I am a judge, senator,” he responded.
In response to a question from Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., Brindisi said he sought to be fair and impartial by making lawyers and litigants feel respected and heard.
Brindisi, a former member of the New York State Assembly, defeated Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney in 2018 for a House seat in upstate New York. He served one term in Congress before Tenney beat him in the 2020 general election by 109 votes.
“One thing that I take away from being in Congress for two years, that I have taken to the bench, although there are many differences, is the ability to be a good listener,” Brindisi said.
“When I served here, my goal was always to try and work with both sides to get things done, and that involves sitting down with individuals sometimes you may disagree with and listening to their ideas and thoughts on a particular bill,” he said.
But some Republicans questioned him about whether his past stances on legislation would influence decisions on the bench.
Under questioning from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Brindisi said he sponsored pieces of legislation as a member of Congress but years ago gave up his title as a policymaker and has “transitioned to a neutral arbiter sitting in state court currently.”
Several Republicans focused on Brindisi’s support for a bill that backers say would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation in public accommodations and other areas of life.
The legislation, called the Equality Act, has been part of the cultural, policy and partisan divide over LGBTQ rights. Brindisi voted for the bill in 2019, when it passed the Democrat-controlled House and then stalled in the Republican-led Senate.
“Are you OK with a biological male, who identifies as a female, sharing a locker room?” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, asked him Wednesday.
“Senator, it has been a number of years since I’ve been in the House, and have been a judge for the last two-and-a-half years,” Brindisi said.
Graham pressed him again on the bill.
“I want to be somewhat careful senator, because I am a sitting judge right now, and I do know that in New York state there are several cases that are on point with this particular issue,” he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questioned the judicial nominee over his support for the bill, while Brindisi said it’s been years since he was a co-sponsor of the measure.
At one point, Brindisi began to explain the aim of the bill but was swiftly cut off by the Republican senator.
“Your recollection is contrary to the explicit text of the statute,” Cruz said. “Are you fond of ignoring the text of statutes?”
“Senator, as a sitting judge now, and if I’m fortunate to be confirmed as a district court judge, I will follow statutory …,” Brindisi said before Cruz interrupted.
“But you didn’t when you were a congressman — you sponsored it, you voted for it. And by the way, to be clear, for some reason under Joe Biden, the state of New York really is getting hammered with judicial nominees,” Cruz said.
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