This week, the U.S. Senate is holding hearings on two of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, Benjamin Flowers to the Sixth Circuit and Matthew Schwartz to the Second Circuit. Here is an area where the Senate should redouble its efforts, given that it can get little else done.
Around 18 nominees await Senate action. And, although they are keeping up with the pace of confirmations from President Trump’s first term, that pales in comparison to President Joe Biden’s 62 confirmations by the same point in their presidencies, 16 months into it.
Some have noted a lower number of vacancies, but even so, President Trump’s 53 nominations are much closer to evening the playing field than are the 37 they have confirmed so far. A total of 34 judicial vacancies remain.
The President’s latest round of nominations included:
Daniel Desmond Domenico to the Tenth Circuit
Daniel Mack Traynor of North Dakota to the Eighth Circuit
Angela Veronica Colmenero for the Southern District of Texas
Michael Martin for the Eastern District of Michigan
Kasdin Miller Mitchell for the Northern District of Texas
Antonio Pozos for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
His latest confirmation, Justin Smith, to the Eighth Circuit, was vehemently opposed by the left because he describes himself as a “Missouri lawyer fighting for faith, family, and freedom,” which, of course, makes him an excellent choice.
Anthony Mattivi of Kansas was also confirmed as a district judge. Strong opposition to him came because he has been openly pro-life. Senator Dick Durbin (D- Illinois) wanted Mattivi to explain why he stated, “I am 100% Pro-life, and I am opposed to abortion.”
Durbin pressed him on believing that “[a]bortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive funds from federal, state, or local governments.” The majority of Americans agree with that statement. It is as reasonable as wanting taxpayer dollars to be spent on helping seniors. Yet, this prompted Sen. Durbin to defend one of his major donors and supporting organizations, Planned Parenthood: “Do you support federal funding for cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood?” “Do you support federal funding for prenatal and postpartum services at Planned Parenthood?” “Do you support federal funding for the testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and infections at Planned Parenthood?”
From there, the senator moved on to press him on gender identity issues. As you might be aware, the radical left insists that any judge must deny science and accept men who call themselves women to be women. They love Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson because she refuses to define what a woman is, since she is not a biologist. They still want her to rule on laws affecting women.
So, you see the type of objections that have made the radical liberals in Congress oppose Trump nominees no matter what. Every vote is along party lines, not based on academic or professional credentials or judicial philosophy; it is all about politics.
Such radical and strongly partisan attacks in this area demand a similarly strong defensive stand from Senate conservatives.
Let us pray that they take every available opportunity to confirm President Trump’s nominees before it is too late.
