US President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for US Attorney General after previous candidate Matt Gaetz declined consideration, according to Reuters.
Gaetz was the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation of representatives over allegations of having sexual relations with an underage 17-year-old girl and using illegal drugs. He denies the offences.
Bondi’s resume contrasts with that of Gaetz, who lacks much of the traditional experience expected of an attorney general and was expected to face opposition from Senate Democrats and some Republicans. David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, said:
She is certainly qualified for the position on paper. She spent her life prosecuting cases. She has a resume, as compared to the last nominee.
Trump announced his choice of Bondi on social media, praising her for her prosecutorial experience and saying she was tough on crime as Florida’s first female attorney general. He also expressed hope that Bondi would end the politicisation of federal prosecutions.
For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponised against me and other Republicans – Not anymore.
Trump criticised the current leadership of the Justice Department and promised retribution after special prosecutor Jack Smith secured two indictments against him. The charges are related to Trump’s attempts to disrupt the 2020 election and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Appellate judges under agreement with Senate
Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate struck a deal on Wednesday, paving the way for a vote on a group of President Joe Biden’s nominees to serve on federal trial courts in exchange for rejecting four nominees to serve on appeals courts. The deal, described by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spokesman on Thursday, was reached after Senate Republicans launched a campaign to try to stall and prevent Democrats from fulfilling their plan to confirm as many lifetime judges as possible before Trump takes office in January.
Senate Republicans previously said they had the votes to block at least two of the four appeals court nominees. The deal will no doubt disappoint advocates of progressives who have been pushing Democrats to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible since the 5 November election, which handed the White House to Trump and control of the Senate to Republicans.
Following the election, the Senate confirmed eight judges chosen by Biden, bringing the total number of confirmed judicial nominees to 221. On Thursday, the Democratic-led Senate confirmed another, Sharad Desai, to serve as a trial court judge in Arizona.
Under the agreement, the Senate will vote to confirm seven nominees for district court judgeships that Schumer has already appointed in exchange for no longer seeking confirmation of four higher-level appeals court nominees. The Senate will also consider five other district court nominees whose nominations were made on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The other appellate nominees were Ryan Park, seeking a seat on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia; Julia Lipez, who was nominated to the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston; and Karla Campbell, who was nominated to the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati.
