Sen. Rand Paul hit President Obama and congressional Democrats on Wednesday for supporting the nomination of David J. Barron to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying they would have vigorously opposed the nomination if George W. Bush was still president.

Barron, a former Justice Department lawyer, was the principal author of a controversial memo authorizing the president to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda leader in Yemen who was also a U.S. citizen.