Senate Republicans attack choice of circuit court in defense of voting rights

Senate Republicans attacked Wednesday President BidenDemocrats Joe Biden reach agreement on 0.5 T price for infrastructure bill Texan family arrested for role in Capitol Riot Key Senate Democrats undecided on Biden’s ATF candidate MOREnominated for a prestigious seat on the appeals court because of her record as a voting rights activist, challenging her plea against voting restrictions.

In a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican members criticized Myrna Pérez, a candidate for a seat on the New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals, for her work leading efforts to voting rights of the Brennan Center for Justice.

His. Ted cruzRafael (Ted) Edward CruzCruz trolled on Twitter for criticizing Democrats who fled Texas. (R-Texas) accused her of being a “radical activist” against voting restrictions imposed by Republican state legislatures across the country.

“You have led litigation campaigns and opposed voter identification laws, you opposed voter integrity laws, you opposed bans on ballot collection, you pleaded so that criminals can vote, ”said Cruz.

“When I look at your record year after year as an extreme partisan lawyer, I find myself with the very likely conclusion that if you were confirmed on the bench, you would also be a radical activist on the bench,” he said. declared. added.

As director of the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Election program, Pérez led the group’s advocacy and lawsuits against the growing number of voting restrictions across the country.

His nomination to the powerful 2nd Circuit has been applauded by other voting rights advocates and critics of the GOP’s efforts to limit access to ballots.

Pérez responded to criticism from Republicans on Wednesday by promising to respect the law and Supreme Court precedents, including in areas where she has been an open activist.

“In the great genius of our Constitution, people play different roles,” Pérez said. “Lawyers zealously advocate on behalf of their clients in all possible forms. I have had the privilege and pleasure of doing so.”

“Judges take on a different role,” she continued. “They are limited in what they have jurisdiction over, they are limited in the cases brought before them, and they are limited to the arguments of what the parties present to them, and they are limited to a binding precedent. I think the more important what a judge can do, must do, and is in fact required to do, is to apply existing precedents impartially and objectively to the facts and record of the case before them. “

But Republicans seemed concerned that she wouldn’t be able to put aside her past work in potentially revising voting laws like those coming into effect in the country’s red states.

“You’re going to say what you’re going to do is basically your philosophy of law and your philosophy of government structure, you’re going to hit the reset button and you’re going to be a neutral and a slate white,” sen. Marsha blackburnMarsha Blackburn Blackburn: “Taylor Swift would be the first victim” of socialism, of Marxism The Hill’s Morning Report: Afghanistan’s future now belongs to Afghans, Biden says Senate Republicans urge CDC to lift mask mandate public transport PLUS (R-Tenn.) Said during Wednesday’s hearing. “Is that what you’re telling us?” “

“I will be an impartial and objective arbitrator limited to the subject matter and the personal competence of the case before me and the arguments that the parties have presented to me,” replied Pérez.

The Republican attacks signal that Pérez’s confirmation process is likely to face stiff partisan opposition.

Senate Republicans have resisted several of Biden’s top candidates, in some cases forcing Democrats to pass them through deadlocked Judiciary Committee votes and restricted votes, but so far they haven’t were able to torpedo any of the court confirmations during the Biden administration.