Washington, D.C. — Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance the nomination of Michael Bennett for a lifetime appointment to the federal appeals court in Wisconsin. This happened despite the fact that his home state Sen. Tammy Baldwin did not submit a “blue slip” for Brennan – an indication of her support – because of his extreme ideological positions and failure to receive the requisite number of votes from the bipartisan judicial selection commission. Michele Jawando, Vice President of Legal Progress at the Center for American Progress, offered the following statement:
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s decision today to unceremoniously scrap the century-old, bipartisan blue slip tradition and pack the bench with another extreme Trump judicial nominee is very disappointing and marks another low point for the Senate. This administration and its allies continue to erode long-established norms and traditions, from conflicts of interest to personal attacks on federal judges. Unfortunately, these attacks on the rule of law and judicial independence are now being copied in states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The true losers in this are the people of the United States and their trust and confidence in our judiciary.
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