Opinion

The Ridiculous Obstruction Of Trump Nominees

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Eric Lycan VP for Judicial Affairs, Republican National Lawyers Association
Font Size:

While there is talk about shutting down the federal government in the news again, the fact of the matter is the Democrats in the Senate have been trying to effectively shut down the government since President Trump started in office.  They have done so by refusing to confirm or delaying the confirmation of many of President Trump’s nominees for Executive Branch positions and judicial vacancies.

How bad is the situation?  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently stated: “If this continues it will take us more than 11 years to confirm the remaining presidential appointment[s].“  Statistics back this up, with almost four times as many nominees confirmed during President Obama’s first six months as President Trump’s.

Sometimes this is just plain ridiculous.  Democrat Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow delayed returning their blue slips for highly qualified Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, nominated for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  While there are different definitions of blue slips, they are basically a vehicle to give home state Senators an opportunity to opine on a nominee.  Larsen had just been reelected by over 57% of the people in Michigan.   There is absolutely no reason for the delay as Judge Larsen is extremely well known and well respected and was even mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee by President Trump.

Of course, possible Presidential candidate and Democrat Senator from Minnesota Al Franken has arguably taken it one step further.   Franken has still not returned his blue slip for Eighth Circuit nominee and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras.  Stras was actually elected with a higher percentage of the vote in Minnesota than Franken in either of his Senate races.  Yet Franken continues to sit on his blue slip for Stras.

To be clear, it is not just that the Democrats are delaying, they are attacking nominees at an unprecedented level.   This started with President Trump’s cabinet.  Even The Washington Post admitted President Trump was not exaggerating when he stated his cabinet nominees had been treated the worst of any President in history.

A great example of Democrats’ effort to hurt the government instead of raising real opposition to the merits of the nominees is their treatment of their former colleague and  current Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Democrats, who had previously been happy to work with then-Senator Sessions and consider him a colleague, attempted to attach a narrative of racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws to Sessions, without anything in his record to substantiate their claims.  Instead, Sessions’ record showed a history of fighting against racial discrimination.  But that did not stop the Democrats from erecting a straw man and attacking him as an excuse to delay action on Sessions’ nomination for attorney general.

After voting to oppose Sessions’ confirmation in lock step (except for Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia), relying on their false accusations of racism, Senate Democrats joined the Republicans in applauding after he was confirmed.  One of the leaders in the applause was Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who clapped for over 30 seconds for the man he just voted against for being racist.

It is no wonder that good people are not willing to endure Democrats’ name-calling, character assassination, and delays in the confirmation process.  Miguel Estrada, one of the most distinguished appellate lawyers in the country whose D.C. Circuit nomination battle lasted over three years, stated when his name was mentioned as being a possible nominee for Solicitor General: “I would never accept a job that requires Senate confirmation or, for that matter, willingly place myself in any situation (e.g., a hearing room) in which convention requires that I be civil to Chuck Schumer.”

Estrada was the first appellate court nominee in our nation’s long history to be filibustered multiple times.  The Democrats’ stated reason was that no one would present his work product from his time as Deputy Solicitor General.   What is worse is the real reason why he was filibustered.   Under the leadership of Senator Ted Kennedy and current Minority Whip Dick Durbin, Senate Democrats opposed Estrada because of his race, as confidential memos between the staffs of those Senators confirmed.  The Democrats feared that the conservative Estrada may one day be a Supreme Court nominee and fabricated an argument that was rejected by all living solicitors general of both parties.

The problem of nomination obstruction is especially dire when compared with the rapidly growing number of judicial vacancies.  Since President Trump was elected, the number of judicial vacancies has increased by 1/3.  President Trump’s judicial choices need to be confirmed.

The situation is so bad that Senate Democrat allies have even taken to attacking the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The Above the Law blog recently called the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Chief Nomination Counsel a “f–king d—b-g” for quitting his solo practitioner firm to come to Washington to serve the country.

Unlike President Trump, who has mentioned a temporary government shutdown to fix a problem, Senate Democrats have tried to permanently hinder the government for all of President Trump’s term.  The Democrats disagree with the decision of the people last November, so they are seeking to overrule it through every means possible, from distracting with constant, unsubstantiated harping on Russian election collusion to delaying and attacking qualified and well-respected nominees.

Sadly, the result is that the will of the people is what is actually obstructed and the people are prevented from receiving the government for which they voted.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel