Democrats continue to assassinate the characters of every President Trump judicial nominee that crosses their path. Judge Neomi Rao is no exception. The experienced jurist was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year, but critics found reason to slow or stymie the process, first digging up past comments she made about date rape, which she apologized for, and then questioning her pro-life credentials, which even gave a handful of Republican senators pause. Democrats were concerned about her view of presidential authority, which Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) alleged was “so outside the mainstream and alarming for the scope and reach of executive power.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) shared other Democrats' concerns that Rao planned to roll back environmental regulations.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) revisited the campaign against Judge Rao because he didn't like a vote she cast in former national security adviser Michael Flynn's case on Thursday. She, along with her fellow judges on the D.C. appeals court, ruled that Judge Emmet Sullivan, the federal judge who oversaw Flynn's case, has until May 31 to explain why he didn't immediately drop the case against Flynn after the DOJ moved to dismiss the charges.
Not cool, Sheldon. Judge Rao is a gifted, hard-working legal scholar and jurist. I know you disagree with her here—and I strongly disagree with you on that point—but is it ever appropriate to call a sitting jurist “a cartoon of a fake judge”? I can’t think of a good reason. Ever. https://t.co/OWQvCdU9bh
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 22, 2020
Lee asked Whitehouse what exactly he found so "offensive" about Rao and her record. He's still waiting for a response.
"I disagree with federal judges all the time," Lee said. "I even express my disagreement. But what good comes from this kind of an ad hominem attack on an individual jurist, using words like 'cartoon' and 'fake'?"
A little bit of research revealed that it wasn't that long ago when Sen. Whitehouse was criticizing President Trump for "targeting" female jurists.
I'm old enough to remember when @SenWhitehouse was denouncing Trump's slanderous attacks on women judges.
— Adam White (@adamjwhitedc) May 22, 2020
Things sure change quickly. pic.twitter.com/zdISlNROre
Rao replaced Brett Kavanaugh when he vacated his D.C. Circuit seat to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. I don't need to remind you how tense his confirmation process was.
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