The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines Wednesday to advance the nomination of Pam Bondi to be attorney general, moving her along the path to confirmation.
Ahead of the vote, Republicans praised Bondi’s experience as Florida attorney general prior to her nomination. Democrats raised concerns about the independence of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer from a president like Donald Trump, who has called for criminal prosecutions of his critics.
None of the chamber’s 53 Republicans has said they would oppose Bondi’s confirmation, a sign that she appears likely to take the lead of a Justice Department responsible for federal criminal prosecution and a wide array of law enforcement, along with immigration courts, voting rights and antitrust enforcement.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said Bondi was a “fair career prosecutor who built her reputation by enforcing the rule of law.” He also said Democrats were displaying hypocrisy by opposing Bondi over perceived partisanship.
“The president has the right to choose an attorney general who is loyal and will faithfully carry out the vision for America that this president ran on,” Grassley said.
Democrats pointed to Bondi’s unwillingness to state she would recuse herself from matters dealing with her prior lobbying clients. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking member on the committee, highlighted Bondi’s refusal to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election.
“It is absolutely critical that any nominee for the position be committed first and foremost to the Constitution and American people, not the president and his political agenda. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that Miss Bondi shares that belief,” Durbin said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pointed out that in the last week, Trump pardoned hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and he was not confident in how Bondi would curb Trump’s actions or those of others such as Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for FBI director.
“This is not normal. It’s just one example of the way things are going,” Whitehouse said of the pardoned Jan. 6 attackers.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Bondi had repeatedly refused to say whether she would refuse to obey an illegal order from Trump. Coons pointed out that William Barr, who served as attorney general in Trump’s first term, said he would resign rather than obey an unlawful order.
“How hard is it to say you would refuse an illegal order?” Coons said.
Three Republicans spoke on Bondi’s nomination, including newly appointed Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., who served as state attorney general after Bondi and called her a “trailblazer.”
“She never compromised her integrity, prosecutorial independence or fidelity to the rule of law,” Moody said.
Moody said Bondi had taken steps to protect Florida consumers and cut down on the number of “pill-mills” that sprang up in the state.
Bondi, who was nominated to the post after Trump’s first choice, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., backed out, pledged that she would end “partisanship” at the DOJ.
Bondi would take over a DOJ already mired in legal challenges from Trump’s first week of executive actions.
The DOJ is currently defending legal fights over Trump’s attempt to overturn birthright citizenship, roll back diversity initiatives and discrimination protections, ban openly transgender servicemembers from the military and “pause” billions of dollars in federal spending.
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