Rare Pushback on Biden Judicial Nominee From Senate Democrats

Democratic dissent over a judicial nomination has been rare in the last two years, but the latest fight over a federal appellate nominee’s views about abortion and his actions during a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit might force President Biden to withdraw a judicial nomination for only the third time in his tenure. A former New Hampshire attorney general, Michael Delaney, was nominated by Mr. Biden in January to serve on the Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals. As of Monday, three Democratic senators have raised concerns about Mr. Delaney’s nomination — enough to block the nomination altogether if they decided to vote against him.Senators Blumenthal, Booker, and Hirono have yet to commit to supporting Mr. Delaney. Mr. Blumenthal said he “has concerns” following Mr. Delaney’s “rough hearing” in the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Mr. Blumenthal sits. With a 51-seat majority, Senator Schumer can only afford to lose two Democrats in the Senate vote to confirm Mr. Delany’s nomination.The Senate has so far confirmed 117 of Mr. Biden’s nominations for seats on the bench, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The rapid pace with which Mr. Biden has moved to fill the courts rivals that of his predecessor, and gravely concerns Republicans. The president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, Carrie Severino, told NBC News that the Senate has offered no check on the president’s nominees.“Biden promised unity and moderation but has consistently nominated radical judges to appease the liberal dark money groups who helped elect him,” Ms. Severino said. “Unfortunately, Senate Democrats have simply rubber-stamped his picks and I expect that pattern to continue.” While an assistant state attorney general in 2005, Mr. Delaney signed on to a Supreme Court briefing that called for an end to the state’s “parental notification” law, which required minors to receive permission from a parent or legal guardian if they wanted to obtain an abortion. The law did “not present a substantial obstacle to any woman’s right to choose an abortion,” the brief states. Mr. Delaney was a signatory to that legal brief, and at the time was serving as deputy to a then-attorney general and future U.S. senator, Kelly Ayotte. He said in his testimony to senators that he had “extremely limited involvement” in the case.Ultimately, in a unanimous decision, the high court ruled that parental notification was unconstitutional in cases when a woman needed an abortion to protect her own health. Before being appointed to serve as the state’s attorney general, Mr. Delaney was legal counsel for a popular Democratic governor, John Lynch, who told the Associated Press that his former lawyer “strongly supports women’s reproductive freedom” — the new litmus test for Democratic judicial nominees.Mr. Delaney has also come under fire for his involvement in a sexual assault-related lawsuit from 2016. St. Paul’s, a prestigious New Hampshire high school, hired Mr. Delaney as its defense lawyer after it was sued by the family of a teenage girl who was sexually assaulted at the school.In 2015, an 18-year-old senior at the school, Owen Labrie, was tried and convicted on multiple counts for raping a 15-year-old girl as part of the school’s “senior salute” tradition, in which senior boys attempt to have sex with freshman girls. After Mr. Labrie’s conviction, the girl’s family sued the school. During the civil suit proceedings, Mr. Delaney made a motion to publicly identify the female victim, who at the time of the lawsuit was 16. In response, the girl publicly identified herself voluntarily in 2016. The young victim who was outed during the trial, Chessy Prout, took to the opinion pages of the Boston Globe this month to detail her experiences with Mr. Delaney and to decry the Biden administration’s support for him. “Because of his actions, I lost the privilege of privacy,” Ms. Prout, who graduated from Barnard College last year and now works in the financial services industry, wrote. Mr. Delaney has strong supporters in Congress, including Senators Shaheen and Hassan, both of New Hampshire. Ms. Prout said that Ms. Shaheen and Ms. Hassan are hypocritical for supporting Mr. Delaney given their opposition to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. “Biden’s nomination as well as the nominee’s support from Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire show me and other survivors that they approve of what Delaney and St. Paul’s School put me and my family through,” Ms. Prout wrote. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Ms. Hirono grilled Mr. Delaney for his involvement in the St. Paul’s lawsuit. “In criminal cases, there are real people whose real lives are impacted by what the appellate court judge does, and often for these litigants it is the worst day of their lives. How would you keep the real people behind every case in mind?” she asked during her questioning period.Republicans on the committee said Mr. Delaneys actions in the case preclude him from serving on the bench. “As advocates, we make decisions, but we are responsible for those decisions. … You made a decision to try and strip a girl of her anonymity,” Senator Hawley said in the committee hearing. “Quite frankly, I’m astounded you’ve been nominated.”

Rare Pushback on Biden Judicial Nominee From Senate Democrats

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