Overview
- The group of twelve former Justice Department attorneys publicly released a letter on Wednesday urging the Senate to deny confirmation to any judicial nominee who will not say the Jan. 6 riot was an attack, acknowledge it involved Trump supporters, and accept that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
- Senators Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse promoted the letter at a Capitol Hill press event before a Senate Judiciary Committee nominations hearing and appeared with three of the letter’s signatories.
- The letter argues that nominees’ refusal to reject false election claims and characterize Jan. 6 raises real doubts about whether a judge could act independently from the President who nominated them once given a lifetime seat.
- The push comes as the Senate prepares imminent votes, with Blumenthal planning renewed questioning of appellate nominee Anna St. John and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche facing a potentially tight confirmation after Senator Susan Collins pledged opposition.
- The move is part of a coordinated campaign by former DOJ lawyers, including work channeled through Justice Connection, and it follows earlier confirmations of nominees who declined to answer the same Jan. 6 and 2020-election questions, which advocates say shows both the stakes and the limits of Senate resistance.