Republican Sen. John Cornyn put the blame Thursday on the White House — and not his office — for delays in nominating judges for federal courts in Texas, as Democrats have asked for cooperation from Republicans to fill vacancies in red states.
Those open positions are receiving renewed attention as Senate Democrats, armed with an expanded 51-seat majority, plan to make judicial nominations a priority this Congress. The White House has had trouble appointing judges to federal district courts in states with two Republican senators.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard J. Durbin has stressed bipartisanship on district court nominees this session, an approach incoming ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has backed at panel meetings this week.
But Cornyn, in comments during Thursday’s meeting, argued the White House has not been diligent about filling certain judicial openings. Plus, the Texas Republican said there’s a lack of contact from the administration, too.
In previous Democratic administrations, a White House counsel has reached out to members of the Judiciary Committee to establish some communication and rapport, Cornyn said.
“That has not happened in the Biden administration. I know there’s been some turnover, but I couldn’t give you the name of the White House counsel,” Cornyn said. “I couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. And that’s unique in my experience.”
At the center of the issue is a Judiciary Committee tradition known as the “blue slip” process, which gives senators the ability to effectively block judge nominees for district courts in their home state.
Several states represented by two Republican senators have multiple district court vacancies, including Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
For an opening for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, a jurisdiction that covers Texas, Cornyn said the White House in February 2022 gave him and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz three weeks to come up with potential nominees.
They gave 10 names to the White House six days later, Cornyn said.
“Not three weeks later, but six days later,” Cornyn said. “On August the 19th, six months later, the White House finally reached out just to say that they were ready to move forward. But I want to point out that it wasn’t because of our delay. It was because of whatever the reasons the White House is delayed.”
Cornyn pointed to another situation involving two federal judicial vacancies in Texas. He said that in November, he brought up the vacancies with the White House, months after posting a March 2022 press release about the vacancies.
“And it wasn’t until last week that the White House expressed an interest in looking at these vacancies,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn also turned the focus on the nomination of U.S. attorneys, who are responsible for leading efforts to prosecute crimes in their districts.
The White House has not nominated a U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Texas, Cornyn said, despite the Biden administration having his recommendation for the position since June.
Durbin, in response, said Democrats are “asking members to try to cooperate, but certainly the White House has to do the same.”
Graham also has urged his Republicans colleagues to not stonewall the process. “I’m not asking anybody to capitulate, I am asking people to cooperate,” he said at Thursday’s meeting.
The bipartisan attitude was on display Wednesday as a district court nominee from Indiana, which has two Republican senators, appeared before the Senate committee.
Republican Sen. Todd Young introduced Biden pick Matthew P. Brookman, who is a nominee for a district judge position in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, where he currently serves as a federal magistrate judge.
Approximately two dozen judicial nominees were on the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda for its business meeting on Thursday, in addition to Justice Department nominees. The judicial nominations include eight nominees for influential circuit courts.
But at the meeting, Durbin said the nominees will be “held over” at the request of minority members, which means votes will be at a later meeting.
The post Sen. John Cornyn blames White House for some judicial vacancies appeared first on Roll Call.
