Deputy White House chief of staff Dan Scavino predicted Wednesday that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate confirmation would move “very quickly,” offering the clearest indication yet that the administration intends to seek Senate approval for one of President Donald Trump’s closest legal allies.
Scavino announced Wednesday that the president plans to nominate Blanche to serve as attorney general permanently after months leading the Justice Department in an acting capacity following the firing of former Attorney General Pam Bondi in April. But if Blanche encounters trouble on Capitol Hill, a little-known Biden administration precedent could provide the White House with another option.
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That option centers on former acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who remained atop the Labor Department for nearly two years despite lacking the votes for Senate confirmation. Because Su’s nomination remained pending before the Senate, the Government Accountability Office concluded she could continue serving in an acting capacity beyond the normal deadlines laid out by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Republicans blasted the arrangement at the time as an end run around the Senate’s advice-and-consent role. Now, the same precedent could benefit Trump if Blanche’s nomination becomes politically difficult or never reaches a final vote.
The nomination already faces stiff opposition from Democrats amid the recent fallout and condemnation of last month’s proposed “anti-weaponization fund” for victims of past government abuses, a $1.8 billion proposal that stemmed from Trump’s settlement with the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, which he sued over prior to becoming president again. Blanche told lawmakers the DOJ no longer plans to move forward with the fund, but Democrats have maintained skepticism after he refused to put his promise in writing this week.
Still, Blanche enters the confirmation process with one significant advantage: he has already been confirmed by the Senate once. Senators approved him as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025, by a 52-46 vote, with no Republicans opposed.
Despite Blanche’s prior Senate confirmation as deputy attorney general, some Republicans are already signaling they want answers before committing to support his promotion.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Punchbowl News he has not yet decided whether he will back Blanche. Cornyn’s time in the Senate will end in January 2027 after he lost last month in the Texas Senate primary to Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“The problem with the office of attorney general is that there’s basically, well, you are a member of the president’s Cabinet,” Cornyn said. “But you’re also the chief law enforcement officer for the country. And you’re not the president’s lawyer. So I’ll be asking some questions about getting commitments on that.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) struck a more favorable tone in comments to the Washington Examiner this week, crediting Blanche with helping defuse tensions surrounding President Donald Trump’s criticism of former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“Todd was instrumental in kind of de-escalating the whole Powell matter,” Tillis said, referring to the DOJ’s prior inquiry into Powell earlier this year.
But Tillis reiterated that his concerns about Blanche’s views on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot remain a “circuit breaker” for any nominee.
“Outside of that, I mean, he’s got good credentials — people are going to hammer him because he was the president’s personal attorney, but I’m just more about getting through the J6 stuff,” Tillis said. “It’s not a gray area for me. Either he equivocated and said harming these Capitol police officers was an OK thing, or he didn’t, and we’ll find that in the due diligence.”
Even as the nomination moves forward, Blanche can continue serving as acting attorney general while awaiting Senate action.
“In most cases, the Vacancies Act does not permit someone to serve as both an acting officer and a nominee for the same position at the same time,” Thomas Berry, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, wrote in a post on X. “But Blanche can continue to serve as acting AG while he is the nominee for the position because he is serving under a separate statute, specific to acting AGs, that has no such limitation.”
Berry added that Blanche would likely qualify even under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act because he was previously confirmed by the Senate as deputy attorney general.
TRUMP EXPECTED TO NOMINATE TODD BLANCHE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Blanche has previously taken an expansive view of presidential authority over Justice Department appointments that, so far, has caused friction with the federal judiciary. After a court-appointed U.S. attorney in New York was removed earlier this year, Blanche wrote on X, “Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does. See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
For now, all indications point to a traditional confirmation fight. But if Blanche’s path narrows, Republicans may find themselves relying on the same procedural playbook they once criticized Democrats for using with Su.
David Sivak contributed to this report.
