During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on the White House to work in good faith with Senators from both sides of the aisle to find U.S. Attorney candidates who will have home state support. Durbin cautioned that while this has been the case for filling some vacancies, not all Democratic Senators have been afforded the same opportunity to consult with the Trump White House.
Durbin also noted that because of then-Senator J.D. Vance holding U.S. 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. For decades, the Senate confirmed U.S. Attorneys by voice vote or unanimous consent after they had been considered in the Judiciary Committee. That precedent changed during the Biden Administration when a Senate Republican refused to allow the Senate to confirm nearly a dozen Justice Department nominees by voice vote—the typical practice. During the first Trump Administration, all 85 of President Trump’s U.S. Attorney nominees moved through the Judiciary Committee and were confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent.
Finally, Durbin called out President Trump’s appointment of yet another Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro. In 2007, on a bipartisan basis, Congress passed legislation requiring that after an Interim U.S. Attorney had served for 120 days, the district court would fill the position until a permanent U.S. Attorney could be confirmed by the Senate. Durbin argued that President Trump’s appointment of Ms. Pirro is contrary to Congressional intent and undermines the Senate’s constitutional advice and consent role.
