Dick Durbin, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee this week announced he is halting the confirmation of Trump US Attorney nominee for the Southern District of Florida.
Durbin blamed Vice President JD Vance as he announced he is putting a hold on the nomination of Jason Reding Quiñones.
“Because of then-Senator JD Vance holding US Attorney nominations during the Biden Administration, there is now a new precedent for roll call votes on the Floor for confirming U.S. Attorney nominees,” Durbin said in a statement. “As I’ve said time and time again—there cannot be one set of rules for Republicans and another set for Democrats.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley responded to Durbin’s attacks.
“Make no mistake: the ‘precedent’ the Ranking Member claims then-Senator Vance set does not exist,” Grassley said in a statement, according to CNN. “Vance’s holds were limited to a small number of U.S. Attorney nominees in the latter half of the Biden administration. Placing a blanket hold on all U.S. Attorney nominees before the Trump administration has filled even a single one of the 93 Attorneys’ Offices would constitute an aggressive, unprecedented attack on the American criminal justice system.”
CNN reported:
A new battle is stirring on Capitol Hill as Senate Democrats have threatened to not move forward with confirmations of President Donald Trump’s US attorney nominees around the country – already following through with a hold on one of his picks.
Senate Democrats say they are merely following precedent established by now-Vice President JD Vance under President Joe Biden, when the then-senator held up US attorney nominations in protest of what he called the political prosecutions against Trump.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Thursday that he would hold the nomination of Jason Reding Quiñones as the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
In the announcement, Durbin said he would leave “open the possibility of holds on future U.S. Attorney nominees,” citing Vance’s previous moves.
This isn’t the first time a Democrat Senator on the very powerful Judiciary Committee has blocked a Trump US Attorney nominee.
Democrat Senator Adam Schiff (CA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, previously announced he was placing a hold on President Trump’s nominee for US Attorney in DC, Ed Martin.
Ed Martin’s nomination was ultimately derailed by RINO Tillis and now he is the DOJ pardon attorney.
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