Courts

Mitch McConnell Protests Way Too Much About Justin Walker Circuit Nomination

Justin Walker's warp speed nomination process was always suspicious, but now it really feels weird.

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(Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Mitch McConnell isn’t the sort of guy who feels the need to justify his actions. When caught in some dubious scheme he just wags his chin sack in a chuckle like a less environmentally conscious Thanos and goes on about his business. So when folks started questioning his whirlwind effort to land millennial Justin Walker on the D.C. Circuit amidst a global pandemic and protests shutting down the capital — all for a vacancy that doesn’t even come open until September — McConnell mostly sloughed off the criticism.

But that’s started to change over the past week, with McConnell sending flacks on Fox News to protest all these pesky questions about his latest appellate court project.

Walker, a former Kavanaugh clerk who worked as Louisville Law School professor, was a divisive judiciary pick before being tapped for the D.C. Circuit. His ascension to his current Western District of Kentucky post — less than a year ago, mind you — came after he wrote a law review article defending Trump’s decision to fire James Comey for not following presidential orders to drop criminal cases that implicated administration cronies. Still, his nomination to that post earned the support of his academic colleagues who appreciated the idea of a former Louisville professor on the local bench. But they didn’t expect him to be jumped to the D.C. Circuit before unpacking his office. From the National Law Journal:

“The timing struck me as not ideal. If this had come a number of years from now, I would have felt much more comfortable with it,” [Louisville Law professor Sam] Marcosson said of Walker’s nomination. “Even though I would probably disagree with a lot of decisions that he might write, that wouldn’t trouble me. What does trouble me is he hasn’t had the opportunity to gain that perspective.”

But Judge Walker followed up on his Comey article with another love letter to the administration’s conspiracy theorist instincts by striking down a public health order preventing Easter services. That was all he needed to lock in his most favored jurist status with McConnell and the White House and get him a premature promotion to the nation’s second highest court.

He cruised through a party line Judiciary Committee vote earlier this month and appears to be unstoppable. Which is why it’s so bizarre that McConnell feels the need to say anything about this nomination.

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A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., slammed a group that is pushing claims about D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Justin Walker during the last stages of his confirmation process as engaging in a “bottom-of-the-barrel smear” against the judge, while the group calls on the Senate to pump the brakes on the nomination.

The specific allegations brought up by Fix the Court revolve around a loan Walker made to some former students — an ethically squishy if not necessarily forbidden situation — and claims that Walker assented to students taunting minorities with “build the wall” chants, which if true would be… squarely on brand for the bulk of Trump’s judiciary nominees, many of whom refuse to commit to supporting desegregation let alone denounce racial taunting. After all, without puckish attempts to denigrate others, where will FedSoc find its next generation of leaders? But Fox News has an anonymous source that says it didn’t happen so that, it seems, is that as far as they’re concerned.

But why are these allegations getting McConnell’s hackles up? In a world rightly distracted by just about every other disaster available right now, these stories aren’t likely to get enough mainstream media traction to require Senate Republicans to deviate from their pro forma confirmation vote. Did these claims strike a nerve? Have they hit a little too close to some deeper concerns?

Whether or not there’s anything here that can derail the confirmation isn’t really the point though. The mere appearance of an issue should be enough for senators regardless of political persuasion to slow down this nomination. No one needs to be confirmed for this job until September at the earliest. Fast-tracking Walker under those circumstances was always suspicious, but this uncharacteristic lash out when a judicial transparency advocacy group raises questions is even more reason to put this off.

It’s not “bottom of the barrel” to say this doesn’t need to be done by next week.

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McConnell spokesman slams group pushing allegations about appeals court nominee: ‘Bottom of the barrel’ [Fox News]
Justin Walker’s Law School Colleagues Backed His District Court Nomination. Some Don’t Want Him on the DC Circuit [National Law Journal]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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