The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed two more of Joe Biden’s radical judicial nominees to federal district courts—thanks in part to the absence of key GOP senators.
With Kamala Harris conveniently vacationing in Hawaii, the GOP had a golden opportunity to block these nominations. Instead, their failure to show up handed Democrats another victory.
Democrats confirmed Rebecca L. Pennell to the Eastern District of Washington in a 50-48 vote.
Republican firebrand Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) inexplicably missed the vote, joining Braun in the hall of shame, while Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) voted against the confirmation.
If that wasn’t enough, Democrats confirmed Amir Ali to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Amir Ali, a left-wing activist and Executive Director of the MacArthur Justice Center, was confirmed to a federal trial court in Washington, D.C., by a razor-thin vote of 50-49.
Ali, whose career has focused on dismantling law enforcement systems and advocating for the defunding of police, now holds a lifetime judicial appointment.
Despite Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) standing against Ali’s nomination, voting “no,” Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) was nowhere to be found during the vote, leaving Democrats to confirm Ali without the tie-breaking vote of Harris.
Amazingly, Ted Cruz managed to show up.
This is the second time Senator Mike Braun has missed this critical voting.
On Monday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Embry Kidd to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit with a razor-thin 49-45 vote.
Republican senators faced criticism for failing to prevent this appointment, with several notable absences during the vote.
Among those missing were:
- Mike Braun (R-IN)
- Steve Daines (R-MT)
- Bill Hagerty (R-TN)
- Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- J.D. Vance (R-OH)
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin (I-WV) broke ranks to vote against Kidd, and John Fetterman (D-PA) did not show up.
Vance released a now-deleted statement stating, “If I had shown up to the vote in question, the nominee would have succeeded 49-46 rather than 49-45. If every Republican had shown up, Fetterman would have come in, and the Democrats still would have gotten their nominee across.”
He continued, “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45. But that’s just me.”
According to Newsweek, “Soon after the posts were deleted, Vance appeared in the Senate chamber and voted against a federal nominee to a court in Oregon.”
GOP voters should be outraged. The very purpose of electing a Republican Senate is to act as a check on Democratic power. Yet, in this critical moment, key senators failed to do their job. Republicans had a golden opportunity to stop these confirmations. Instead, they handed Democrats another victory on a silver platter.
