Senate Republicans are in a tizzy because Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois put a hold on President Donald Trump’s nomination for the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and said he’s open to holding up Trump’s other U.S. attorney nominees.
“[B]ecause of then-Senator J.D. Vance holding U.S. Attorney nominations during the Biden Administration, there is now a new precedent for roll call votes on the Floor for confirming U.S. Attorney nominees,” Durbin explained in a May 22 statement announcing the first hold.
The response from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, was predictably over the top. He claimed that placing a blanket hold on all 93 U.S. attorney nominations—which, notably, has not happened yet—would “constitute an aggressive, unprecedented attack on the American criminal justice system.” Also, per Grassley, blanket holds are meant to “wholly obstruct the confirmation process” and “threaten to undermine the Senate’s advice and consent role.”
