Why it Matters

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on pending nominations Sept. 30, with four nominees appearing: one for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and three for district courts.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced he would vote against Eighth Circuit nominee Lee Philip Rudofsky, accusing him of invoking judicial ethics "frivolously" to avoid answering questions about the 2020 election and Jan. 6.

The Big Picture

A Sept. 16 Reuters report described a compressed confirmation timetable, noting Trump announced 13 judicial nominees over nine days in August while the Senate was in recess. Bloomberg Law's Sept. 17 analysis framed the Senate's pace as a final push before the midterms, with potential lame-duck pressure afterward.

Rudofsky was included in a nomination hearing on July 31, 2019, according to the hearing record. Robert E. Long, Jr. is reported as a nominee for the Middle District of Florida, Peter M. Mansfield for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Jesus A. Osete, described in the sources as a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official, for the Western District of Missouri.

What They're Saying

Ranking Member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) opened by arguing that Trump demands personal loyalty from nominees: "Nominees must now demonstrate fealty to him and his MAGA agenda."

Durbin questioned Lee Philip Rudofsky about his 2022 ruling that, in Durbin's description, private citizens have no private right of action to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, calling it an "extreme position" and saying the Eighth Circuit is the only appeals court in the nation to adopt it, and Rudofsky responded that he believes to this day that "my ruling was correct, correct according to the law."

When Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) closed his round with Rudofsky, he said: "I think you are degrading the canons of ethics by invoking them frivolously," and announced his opposition. Asked about Jan. 6, Long said, "I denounce violence against law enforcement," and Blumenthal replied, "Okay, you're not going to answer my question."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) used the hearing to revisit the previous day's testimony from former special counsel Jack Smith, saying: "When I asked Smith about targeting whistleblowers, he played dumb."

Political Stakes

Durbin pressed Osete on a 2016 article criticizing voter ID laws, and Osete said that as a young law student in 2016 he held different views, that he was not an election law expert then, and that he has litigated cases in which he defended "common sense voter ID laws."

The Bottom Line

With Blumenthal already announcing opposition to Rudofsky and the midterms weeks away, the timeline for moving these nominees to the floor remains the central open question.

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