Durbin obstruction threat chills Senate as Trump nominees hang in balance

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., used his opening remarks during the Senate’s first judicial nominee hearing of the year on Wednesday to remind his colleagues that he was holding up at least one of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice nominees.

“I’ve got a hold on one nominee from Florida,” Durbin said. “I’ve spoken to both Florida senators about it. It isn’t personal. We’ve got to find a way out of this that is fair and bipartisan that we’re going to stick with for both political parties.”

Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is blocking the nomination of Jason Reding Quinones, Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of Florida. Durbin also recently threatened to obstruct more of Trump’s picks to lead the DOJ’s 93 U.S. attorney’s offices.

Durbin’s threat loomed over the committee hearing, which featured five of Trump’s nominees to fill federal judge positions. The Illinois Democrat attributed his blockade to Vice President JD Vance announcing a hold on DOJ nominees in 2023. Vance, then a senator, said he would not lift his hold on nominees until then-Attorney General Merrick Garland stopped “going after his political opponents,” a reference to the two federal prosecutions of Trump.

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Any senator has the power to use holds to object to nominations. The practice significantly slows down the confirmation process because it prevents senators from voting for nominees through the typical, expedited unanimous consent process.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, argued Wednesday that, like Durbin, he too disagreed with Vance’s decision, but Grassley said it was notably different than Durbin’s.

“This isn’t what you can legitimately call a precedent for blanket obstruction at the beginning of an administration before even a single one of these 93 U.S. attorneys have been filled,” Grassley said.

Grassley, who himself has hindered nominees in past administrations, said holds should be used “selectively” and quoted Durbin saying last Congress that “public safety will suffer across the United States” if the obstruction of U.S. attorneys is carried out.

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Durbin said Vance changed the rules “overnight.”

“And guess what? The tables turn,” Durbin said. “There comes a time when you want to move these by voice vote, and we’re going to have to say, as Democrats, we’re going to follow the Vance precedent.”

Durbin, who has an amicable relationship with Grassley, signaled he was willing to come to negotiate with Republicans over the Florida nominee, who has already been favorably reported out of the committee along party lines.

Asked by Fox News Digital what a resolution would look like, a Durbin spokeswoman pointed to the senator’s remarks during the hearing and declined to comment further. 

Durbin’s hold is not the only roadblock for Trump’s nominees. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday from the Senate floor that Republicans wanted to “quietly rubber-stamp” Patrick Davis’ nomination and that he would not allow it.

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Trump nominated Davis, a former Grassley aide, to serve as assistant attorney general for the Office of Legislative Affairs, who is responsible for handling DOJ’s correspondence with Congress. Schumer said he opposed Davis’ nomination in part because the DOJ has been unresponsive to his inquiries about the controversial luxury plane that Qatar gifted to the Trump administration.

“They won’t even answer serious questions about this. This plane should be withdrawn,” Schumer said.

He added that when “this Justice Department is as horrible as it is, as political as it is, as destructive of American values as it has been, no way.”

Grassley responded to Schumer on X: “Why would Democrats expect responsiveness to Congress from DOJ when they obstruct Pres Trump’s nominees who r responsible to ANSWER THEIR LTTRS????”

The last two Senate-confirmed heads of the Office of Legislative Affairs, during the Biden administration and first Trump administration, were confirmed through the speedy voice vote process.