Judge Amul R. Thapar, who was on President Trump’s short list for the Supreme Court, faced questions from senators on Wednesday regarding his nomination to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thapar, who hails from Kentucky, was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. McConnell praised Thapar as a judge who had “established a reputation as a keen legal mind who applies the law fairly to all who enter his courtroom.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democrats were much less charitable. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin questioned Thapar at length about his membership in the Federalist Society, an organization the Illinois Democrat said had an outsized role in selecting the people on Trump’s short list to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.
Thapar noted that he was a member of group, which he identified as an “open-debate” society, for three or four years before he became a judge. Durbin expressed concern and said, “They like you and that’s the point I’m trying to get to.”
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse defended the Federalist Society during his questioning of Thapar.
“Bizarrely, about a third of this hearing has been preoccupied with the idea that it is somehow radical to believe in the American Constitution,” Sasse said. “The Federalist Society is a debating society of law students and lawyers. It’s about the Constitution. We in this body have taken an oath to the Constitution. If there is any senator of the 100 in this body that disagrees with any of the three statements, please resign today.”
He turned to Thapar and added, “I think that the questioning that you’ve been subjected to today was about 50, 60, 75 percent in good faith, and about 25 percent trying to demonize an organization that stands for something that is aligned with the oath of office that the 100 of us have taken.”
Thapar’s nomination attracted more controversy because of his previous inclusion on Trump’s short list for the high court vacancy ultimately filled by Justice Neil Gorsuch. With the growing potential of another vacancy to come again before the end of Trump’s four-year term, Thapar’s nomination may serve as a preview of hearings yet to come if the president would consider him again.
