Dianne Feinstein returns and Democrats advance Biden judicial nominees that had been stalled in committee
By Tierney Sneed and Lauren Fox, CNN
With the return of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Senate Democrats approved several judicial nominees out of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday that had been stalled in her absence.
Feinstein told reporters Thursday that she decided to return to work at this time because, “I felt better.”
However, the committee did not vote on former New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney, President Joe Biden’s embattled selection for the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The committee approved six Biden judicial nominees on Thursday, three of them moving forward on a party-line vote, meaning Feinstein’s attendance was necessary for them to advance. Those party-line nominees were Charnelle Bjelkengren, nominated for the US court in Eastern District of Washington; S. Kato Crews, nominated for Colorado’s US district court; and Marian F. Gaston, a nominee for the US district court in the Southern District of California.
There was bipartisan support in the committee vote to advance Jeremy C. Daniel, a nominee for district court for the Northern District of Illinois; Brendan Abell Hurson, a nominee for Maryland’s US District court, and Darrel James Papillion, nominated for the district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
However, the status of Delaney’s nomination for a New Hampshire seat on the circuit court remains in limbo after a months-long campaign led by New Hampshire Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
The two senators became the key whip operation for the nomination over months, arranging meetings for and working to convince fellow Democrats to back Delaney despite sharp questions about his handling of a 2016 civil suit related to the sexual assault of a minor when he was in private practice. The two senators were seen as recently as yesterday on the Senate floor lobbying fellow member Sen. Cory Booker on the confirmation, which Shaheen confirmed to CNN.
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CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
