David Stras Confirmed to 8th Circuit with Votes of 7 Democrats

This afternoon, the Senate confirmed Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to serve on the Eighth Circuit.  David Stras had been the target of a politically motivated refusal to return a blue slip by former Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, who complained that he was too conservative.  Franken's fellow Democratic Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, returned her blue slip.   Despite Sen. Franken's protest, Chairman Chuck Grassley went ahead with a hearing for David Stras, noting that he will not allow senators to use the blue slip as a veto for circuit court nominees.   

Tellingly, seven Democrats voted to confirm Justice Stras, demonstrating that all the heated rhetoric from Democrats about the sanctity of the blue slip has been just that - rhetoric:

#Senate CONFIRMED the nomination of David Stras to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the 8th Circuit by a vote of 56-42.

Senator Capito and McCain did not vote.

7 Democrats voted yes:
Donnelly
Heitkamp
Jones
Klobuchar
Manchin
McCaskill
Warner

— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) January 30, 2018

Seven is a large number of Democratic votes for any Trump Circuit Court nominee to receive, as the Democrats have been fairly united in opposing Trump's judicial nominees.  It's also worth noting that four of them, Sens. Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, and McCaskill, are up for re-election this year in states that President Trump won in 2018.  We may see more carefully chosen votes in favor of the President's nominees in the coming months.  

But that they chose to vote to confirm David Stras, when they had an easy excuse to vote no in the withheld blue slip, demonstrates the excellence of Justice Stras as a nominee.  We can only hope that it also indicates some weakening of the Democrats' mindless obstruction of President Trump's nominees as the 2018 election nears.

Yet Another Reason Why Senator Franken Should Resign

Predictably, CNN has an article promoting the Democrats' point of view on blue slips, including quotes from an outraged Senator Franken.

Chairman Grassley continues to exhibit leadership by maintaining the proper respect for bipartisan Senate traditions such as the blue slip while standing up to the unprecedented Democrat obstruction:

First, I’ve said repeatedly that I’m maintaining the blue slip courtesy. I’m keeping the policy that the vast majority of my predecessors had. A negative or unreturned blue slip will not necessarily prevent a hearing unless the White House failed to consult with home-state senators. This policy comes directly from a long line of practice including Chairman Joe Biden’s letter to President George H.W. Bush in 1989.

Second, he went directly after some of Senator Franken’s criticisms which ignored the balance on blue slips that Chairman Grassley is striking for circuit judges, who cover many states, and district judges, who cover one:

It’s worth mentioning that my Des Moines Register op-ed—which Senator Franken brought up yesterday—concerned two district court nominees. Nothing in the editorial suggests I planned to strictly require two positive blue slips from home-state senators for circuit court nominees.

In a fight between Chairman Grassley and Senator Franken, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell states that Chairman Grassley, not Senator Franken, is on the side of the angels over the 8th Circuit nominee Justice David Stras:

In this case, the junior Senator from Minnesota acknowledges that it is ‘undeniably true’ that Justice Stras is a ‘committed public servant whose tenure as a professor at the University of Minnesota underscores just how much he cares about the law.’ Yet our colleague objects to the committee even considering his nomination.

Why does he want to block a widely respected and accomplished state Supreme Court justice from his own state whom his constituents support?  Because our colleague doesn’t agree with the United States Supreme Court Justices whom the nominee admires, one of whom the nominee happened to clerk for. I applaud Chairman Grassley for not allowing the blue slip courtesy to be abused in this fashion, and I look forward to learning more about Justice Stras’s views from today’s hearing

We join with Leader McConnell in thanking Chairman Grassley for his leadership on the blue slip and confirmation processes.  Senator Franken's actions are yet another reason that he should seriously consider resigning from the Senate.  

Personal Attacks Are All Liberals Have Against Trump Nominees

RNLA Vice President for Election Education David Warrington wrote today in the Daily Caller about the shameful and bizarre personal attacks against President Trump's nominees made by liberals and establishment Democrats:

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras has been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.  He has over seven years of judicial opinions and six years of legal scholarship to scrutinize.  But instead of examining his record, liberal organizations have dismissed him as a “right-wing ideologue” who is simply a pawn of organizations like The Federalist Society. . . .

Notre Dame Law Professor Amy Barrett, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, was likely surprised to discover during her confirmation hearing that her sincerely held Catholic beliefs might disqualifyher, as a conservative, from holding judicial office, at least according to Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Texas attorney Trey Trainor, nominated to the Federal Election Commission last week, also quickly came under fire for his sincerely held Catholic beliefs.  Like all the other nominees, Trainor’s true transgression is his conservative and libertarian views, particularly his vocal support for First Amendment rights and distrust of government bureaucrats’ efforts to regulate political speech.  The vast majority of the American people share these views—liberals also used to value the First Amendment—yet they have been painted as radical enough to disqualify Trainor from public service. . . .

These attacks are not based on an honest review of any nominee’s scholarship, policy views, work history, associations, or character but instead are based on the nominee having been nominated by Trump, having mainstream conservative or libertarian views, and being supported by conservatives and libertarians.  They seriously degrade our public discourse and prevent productive discussions and debates about a nominee’s policy views.

The piece closes by thanking those willing to serve our country despite the personal attacks that will be made against them simply for being nominated by President Trump and being conservative or libertarian.  These nominees are superb and we are immensely grateful.

Vote Fraud: The Crime that Pays

Yesterday, we posted a few vote fraud stories from June 2013.  That is about as far from an election as you can get.  An interesting tidbit in one of them got me thinking.  Missouri Rep. John Rizzo was, now undisputed, fraudulently elected by knowing illegals votes.  So what happened to him?

He was reelected.

That is the key.  Rep. Rizzo pays no price for his actions or the fact his first election was based on a fraud.  He now has all the advantages of incumbency. On the other hand, his opponent lost his appeal and was branded a sore loser.

One of the most important fraudulent elections of recent history was the election loss, but recount victory of Al Franken.  Illegal felon votes, different standards for counting absentee ballots, mathematically unlikely mistakes only favoring one candidate, etc. were just a few of the issues that led to Franken’s recount victory.  Franken then provided the key 60th vote that allowed Obamacare to pass over a filibuster.

But vote fraud doesn’t matter?

Now Franken, the incumbent, is a near lock for re-election.  Looks like vote fraud is a crime that does pay, at least for the candidate.