Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who leads a group of Senate conservatives, announced a pledge Thursday to block President Biden’s expedited nominations of judicial nominees and federal prosecutors as a “response to the current administration’s persecution of former President Trump.”
The senators who signed the pledge said they would not allow early confirmation of a nominee who suggests the prosecution of Mr. Trump was reasonable. [or] “President Trump has pleaded guilty in this sham case,” he said, referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
According to their announcement, the blockade also extends to candidates who “joined or supported groups that celebrated the prosecution of President Trump, supported Alvin Bragg’s ‘Beat Trump’ candidacy, or otherwise supported legal warfare or censorship.”
The pledge will last until Election Day, they say, “giving the American people the opportunity to firmly reject attempts to resolve political disputes through the legal system.”
In addition to Vance, other signatories include Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri).
“Democrats are weaponizing our judicial system to attack their greatest political opponent, President Trump. My colleagues and I will not allow Biden to expedite his judicial and federal attorney nominations until the American people have their say on Election Day,” Tuberville said.PostsOn social media site X.
The affected candidates include Sarah French Russell, who has been nominated to be a district judge for the District of Connecticut, Mustafa Kasbai of Oregon, who will be a district judge for the District of Oregon, and Amir Ali and Sparkle Souknanan, who will be district judges for the District of Columbia.
It could also affect candidates for U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, the District of Massachusetts and the Northern District of Iowa.
This latest pledge follows one circulated by Lee last week in which Republican senators vowed to oppose any non-security budget increases for the Biden administration and “any spending bill that funds partisan legal battles.”
They also vowed to oppose early passage of “Democrat legislation and authorities that are not directly related to the safety of the American people.”
At least 13 Republican senators have signed the pledge.
