Judges and cabinet picks

Senator Capito's busy week

The Wheeling Alternative

Judges

Earlier this week, West Virginia Senator Capito thought that the Senate ought to be dealing with more important matters than confirming judges:

Yes, Senator, I remember when Supreme Court Justice Scalia died in early 2016. You and your fellow Republicans said the rule was that there could be no Court appointments in a presidential election year. And then Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died six weeks before the 2020 election and quicker than you can say “change the rules,” Republicans placed Amy Coney Barrett on the Court.

It would also seem that the Democrats have adopted a strategy similar to the one used by R's in 2020 when they rushed to approve as many judges as they possibly could in Trump’s final days. Here is ABC News discussing hypocritical Republican senators like Senator John Thune’s current concern over Biden’s efforts:

Thune's statement vowing to obstruct the judicial confirmation process in the final hours of the Biden presidency is a departure from comments he made just a few years ago toward the end of Trump's administration. At the time, Thune touted the importance of confirming judges to the bench, saying it was "one of our most important responsibilities as senators" and one of the main reasons he ran for the Senate.

Capito and Trump's new pick for Attorney General

As readers are probably aware, Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from consideration for U.S. Attorney General. (Given Senator Shelley's newfound allegiance to all-things-Trump, it would have been interesting to see Capito's vote and justification on the Gaetz nomination.) In his place, Trump has nominated former Florida state attorney general, Pam Bondi. Yes, Senator Capito, barring some very disastrous revelation not found in Pam Bondi's resume, will likely cast her vote for her. To that end, I'm sure that our senator will quickly dismiss Trump's 2013 contribution of $25,000 to Bondi's AG campaign which was followed by Florida's suddenly dropping the state's lawsuit against Trump University. As the New York prosecutor in the case noted:

I'm sure that Senator Shelley will ignore or dismiss that case. But Bondi has worked in other jobs including as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners. And guess who Bondi has represented? From ABC News:

She has previously represented investment firms and corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, the MLB, Fidelity, Uber and the GEO Group, which is a private prison company, according to filings.

Yes, GEO Group is on Open Secrets's list of Bondi's 2019 client list. And as I've noted previously, Geo Group is that same private prison firm that ranks fifth among all contributors to Capito since 2019. (See two posts down for documentation.) So, if Bondi gets to a Senate vote, how do you think Senator Capito will vote?

A challenger for Capito in 2026

Yes, the senator will be challenged in 2024 by January 6th conspirator, Derrick Evans:

By the way, Evans is also looking for help:

My hunch is that Evans needs someone to make memes like this one from last Christmas a bit more sophisticated:

We are 18 months away from the Republican primary but who knows? As Capito moves closer and closer to Trump, there may not be much difference between the two candidates.

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November 22, 2024

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