Cancels nominee hearings

Senate Judiciary cancels nominee hearings over Flake's Mueller stand

By BURGESS EVERETT

The Senate Judiciary Committee cancelled a Thursday hearing on judicial nominees as Jeff Flake’s stand for a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller continues to wreak havoc in the lame duck session.

The panel was scheduled to advance six Circuit Court nominees, 15 District Court nominees and several bipartisan bills on Thursday to prepare them for possible floor action over the next month. But Flake, who is retiring at the end of this year, is holding firm to his vow to vote against judicial nominees on the floor and in committee unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) schedules a vote on the bipartisan special counsel legislation.

Flake and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) attempted to bring up the bill on Wednesday and were blocked by Republicans that oppose it. Relatedly, Flake voted against Thomas Farr’s nomination to be a District Court judge on Wednesday afternoon, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie after wavering Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) voted to advance Farr.

Flake’s blockade is annoying senior Republicans by slowing down confirmation of conservative judges in the narrowly divided Senate. But Flake’s tactics have been effective because Republicans have a one-seat majority on the Judiciary Committee and control just 51 votes in the Senate, so he could have tagged some nominees with an “unfavorable” recommendation if Democrats unanimously opposed them.

GOP leaders are assessing GOP support for the special counsel bill to evaluate its level of support in hopes of appeasing Flake, but he said in an interview on Tuesday that only a binding floor vote would satisfy him.

McConnell could bring nominees directly to the floor this year even if they get an “unfavorable” recommendation in committee, though GOP leaders are eager to avoid that and have more than enough judges ready for floor action right now to confirm over the final month of the year. Still, McConnell’s top priority is confirming judges and the more that get through the committee, the more bargaining chips he has with Democrats in the lame duck session to continuing reshaping the judiciary.