Senate Republicans are using their rare August work session to make progress on several of President Trump’s nominees to the lower courts and the Executive Branch, even as they continue to meet behind closed doors with Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.
Getting Kavanaugh confirmed by September remains the GOP’s top Senate priority. But the Senate Judiciary Committee has also kept working on other Trump nominees, and is set to vote on two judicial picks once senators return to work this week.
Both would fill vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit: Marvin Quattlebaum and Julius Ness “Jay” Richardson. Both are from South Carolina and were reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee in July after being nominated to the Richmond-based court in May.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., moved to end debate on the two nominations before leaving for a week-long-break, and if they are confirmed, the number of Trump’s federal appeals court nominees approved by the Senate will top 25.
McConnell vowed that in canceling most of the August recess, the Senate’s agenda for the month would include confirming judicial and executive branch nominees and passing appropriations bills.
And there are no shortage of nominees awaiting confirmation, as 170 nominees are currently awaiting action on the Senate floor, including these four:
Wendy Vitter: Vitter was nominated by Trump to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in January.
Vitter, who is married to former Louisiana senator David Vitter, currently serves as general counsel of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Vitter appeared before the Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing in April, and the panel approved her nomination in a party-line vote in May.
Vitter faced tough questions from Senate Democrats during her confirmation hearing about previous comments on abortion and birth control. She was also scrutinized for refusing to say whether the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided.
Vitter told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who posed the question, that she would be getting “into a difficult area when I start commenting on Supreme Court decisions, which are correctly decided and which I may disagree with.” She went on to say that if confirmed to serve on the federal bench, she would be “bound by” Supreme Court precedent and uphold it.
Thomas Farr: The nomination of Farr to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina has been awaiting a vote from the Senate since January.
Farr is a shareholder at the Raleigh law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, where he focuses on employment litigation and constitutional law.
But he’s come under scrutiny for his involvement with former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. Farr was a lawyer for Helms’ re-election campaign in 1990, which tried to intimidate black voters by sending postcards to more than 100,000 voters claiming they were not eligible to vote.
Farr said in a letter last year that he didn’t know about the content of the postcards and was “appalled” when he saw the language on them.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee called for Farr to appear again for a second hearing, but the request was rejected. He was reported out of the committee in mid-January. His nomination was opposed by the AFL-CIO, NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.
The judicial vacancy that Farr has been tapped to fill has remained open since 2005.
Charles Rettig: Rettig was nominated to serve as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in February. If confirmed, he will replace John Koskinen, who stepped down from the post in November after completing a five-year term as head of the IRS. Rettig is a tax lawyer who has spent more than 35 years with Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez, PC.
Several Senate Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee vowed during Rettig’s confirmation hearing last month to oppose his nomination even though they think he has the qualifications to serve. Their resistance came after the Treasury Department decided to allow some political nonprofits to disclose less information about its donors to the tax agency.
He ultimately was approved by the Senate Finance Committee 14-13.
Justin Muzinich: Trump tapped Muzinich to serve as the No. 2 official at the Treasury Department in April. The Senate Finance Committee approved his nomination to deputy secretary of the Treasury in a 14-13 party-line vote at the beginning of August.
Muzinich serves as counselor to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and reportedly played a key role in the drafting of the GOP’s tax reform bill that passed last year. Before serving in the Treasury Department, he was president of Muzinich & Co.
Despite having the support of Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the panel’s top Democrat, said this month he would place a hold on his nomination “until the department quits stonewalling our oversight requests.” Wyden wants the Treasury Department to turn over documents related to President Trump’s financial ties to Russia.
Muzinich is the third person to be picked by Trump for the deputy secretary post, but the previous two withdrew their names from contention.
