Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has moved forward to confirm a number of federal judges this week and praised President Trump for their nominations.
“While our committees are working, the full Senate is keeping busy with one of our core constitutional responsibilities: continuing to confirm well-qualified men and women to lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary," McConnell said from the Senate floor Tuesday. "Yesterday, we voted to advance the nomination of Kristi Haskins Johnson, the current Solicitor General of Mississippi with multiple impressive clerkships under her belt, to serve as a District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. She’ll make history as the first woman to join the bench in that district."
“This is just the first of several nominations we’ll consider this week. We’ll also vote today on Benjamin Beaton, a Kentuckian who has been nominated to be a District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky," he continued. “Mr. Beaton received a first-rate education from Kentucky’s Centre College and then Columbia Law School, where he edited the law review. He clerked on the D.C. Circuit and on the Supreme Court for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg."
McConnell's agenda and focus on judges prompted a meltdown from Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown.
This is idiotic. @SherrodBrown is being a complete ass. He wears a mask to speak—when nobody is remotely near him—as an ostentatious sign of fake virtue.@DanSullivan_AK was over 50 feet away, presiding. Last I checked 50 feet is more than 6 feet. https://t.co/BoIGrAV7T1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 17, 2020
Yesterday President Trump sent two additional nominations to the Senate for confirmation, including a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Joseph L. Barloon, of Maryland, to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade, vice Leo Maury Gordon, retired.
Thomas L. Kirsch II, of Indiana, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, vice Amy Coney Barrett, elevated.