Overview
- During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Judge Daniel M. Traynor twice refused to say who won the 2020 presidential election and declined to call the January 6, 2021 events an attack, citing judicial propriety and pending cases in his courtroom.
- Traynor defended signing a 2024 letter refusing to hire Columbia law clerks as a protected First Amendment hiring choice and said law clerk selection is not a 'case or controversy.'
- Democratic senators, including Richard Blumenthal and Adam Schiff, said Traynor's public role in the Columbia letter made his refusals inconsistent and accused him of using a prepared script.
- Traynor's judicial record includes rulings that found some federal regulations unlawful and a 2025 $28 million judgment tied to Dakota Access protests that he agreed to vacate for settlement talks; the ABA rated him well qualified in 2020.
- Observers expect mostly Republican support and a probable party-line confirmation push before the Senate's August recess, and an earlier misconduct complaint over the Columbia letter was dismissed by 8th Circuit leadership.