Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed his displeasure on Monday after two Democratic-appointed judges reversed their resignations in what appeared to be an attempt to stop President Trump from naming his successors.
McConnell called the unusual decision to retire following Trump’s landslide victory last month a “partisan” gambit that will undermine the integrity of the federal judiciary.
“They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace him, and now that he doesn’t, they’re changing their plan so that the Republicans don’t do it,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.
“To admit shame. And the incoming administration would be wise to review all the options available to these judges, because it is clear that they have a political finger on the scale,” he said.
“This type of behavior affects the integrity of judges. It exposes the bold Democratic blue where there should be only black robes,” McConnell warned.
US District Judge Max Cogburn, appointed by former President Obama to the Western District of North Carolina, has decided to stay on the job despite announcing in 2022 that he would run for the top job.
Cogburn’s change of schedule came after U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley, a judge in the Southern District of Ohio, backed off his bid to take the top post on the court after Trump won the presidential election last month. Marbley was appointed to the bench by former President Clinton.
“It’s hard to conclude that this is anything other than open collusion,” McConnell said.
McConnell said the election threatened to derail a deal reached before Thanksgiving between Senate Democrats and Republicans to confirm about a dozen district judges in exchange for Trump getting four more district court seats to fill.
He warned that it would be a big problem if two district court judges in Tennessee and North Carolina, whose seats were part of the Senate deal, also reversed their retirement decisions.
“It would be even more alarming if one of the two district judges who announced their resignations created vacancies before the Senate — in Tennessee and North Carolina — would follow suit,” McConnell said.
“The district judge never retired after the presidential election. It never happened. And creating such a precedent flies in the face of bipartisan uncertainty over the resolution of these positions,” he argued.
He said if circuit court judges chose to sit on the bench during Trump’s tenure, they would likely be hit with ethics complaints.
“If these district judges resign because they don’t like who won the election, I can only assume that they will face ethical complaints based on Canon 2 and 5 of the Code of Conduct for US Judges, followed by requests from the Department. of Justice. And they will get it,” he warned.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who spoke on the floor after McConnell, objected to reminding his colleagues of McConnell’s decision to block then-Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by Obama to serve on the Supreme Court in 2016. Even getting a hearing when Republicans controlled Senate.
“When I hear the senator [McConnell] come on down… and let’s talk about if there’s a sports game going on, I don’t know. But I can tell you that we saw it at the highest level when filling the Supreme Court position when Antonin Scalia died,” said Durbin.
Senate Republicans kept Scalia’s seat vacant for nearly a year, giving Trump the opportunity to nominate conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to fill it in 2017.
A Democratic aide said that at least three Republican-appointed judges have reversed their retirement decisions in the past 16 years.
Judge Rudolph Randa of the Eastern District of Wisconsin revoked his letter of recommendation in 2008 after Obama won that year’s election.
Judge Michael Kanne of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his letter of appointment in 2018 after Mr. Trump did not choose his preferred successor.
And Judge Karen Caldwell of Kentucky’s Eastern District withdrew from her senior position in 2023 after her failed bid to appoint a successor.
This story was updated at 7:16 pm
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