Meet Biden’s reappointed judges, whom one Republican called “extremists” and “radicals.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will review several of President Biden’s nominees to the courts, whom Ted Cruz, Texas, called “extremists, supporters, and radicals” last year when they were nominated in the last Congress but failed to move forward.

The Senate meets this week for the legislative work of the 118th Congress, and a weak 51-49 Democratic majority is expected to make Biden’s nominations much easier to approve than it was last year in the 50-50 Senate. In the last Congress, Republicans protested eight of these candidates, citing their records of approving lenient sentences for violent criminals and supporting leftist causes.

Dale Ho was reappointed as a judge in New York’s Southern District Court, and at a hearing last year, Cruz said Biden “pushed forward the model of nominating extremists, supporters and radicals” to administrative and judicial positions. Cruz said that Ho’s track record “reflects the same pattern of looking for someone who was extreme supporter” and “radical”.

Cruz noted that Ho, who served in the ACLU and NAACP, “attacked on Twitter” several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and that “these are far from intemperate statements when you were a teenager, most of these tweets were made in the past year. “

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“So, in the last 12 months, you have been — or the last 18 months or so — been involved in guerrilla attacks against several members of this committee,” Cruz said, before touching on a 2017 tweet from Ho:

“During these dark times, I have been fortunate to find a tremendous sense of purpose in my work as a civil rights lawyer. But as a colleague of mine recently asked me over lunch, “Dale, are you doing this because you want to help?” people or because you hate conservatives?” Cruz said, quoting Ho. “He meant that anger can actually be a huge source of power. For me, righteous indignation can provide a sense of moral clarity and motivate the long hours it takes to get the job done. timing burst. It doesn’t hold up in the long run.”

The senator asked Ho how his previous comments would convince a conservative in the courtroom of his impartiality as a judge. Ho defended his comments, saying they were from a “church” conversation.

Another candidate who came under fire from Republicans last year and was renominated is Rachel Blumekatz, an Ohio public interest attorney who was nominated last year to serve on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last August, Blumekatz faced brutal interrogation by Senator Josh Hawley, Missouri, for defending 15-year-old Brandon Moore, who beat and participated in the gang rape of a pregnant college student at gunpoint. Moore was sentenced to 141 years in prison and the trial court ruled that he “cannot be exonerated”. Blumekatz argued all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court that Moore should be released early after he said his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment to cruel and unusual punishment.

At her hearing, Blumekatz defended her position by stating that U.S. Supreme Court precedent states that juveniles should be treated differently in sentencing than adults, which Hawley says is “hard for him to understand”.

“He is a criminal. He was 15 years old when he committed his terrible crimes, and what he took from this young woman, she will never get back, ”said Hawley.

Another candidate, Nusrat Jahan Chowdhury, who was nominated for a job in the New York District Court, spent most of her career as a high-ranking lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and once claimed that police kill unarmed blacks every time. day.

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President Joe Biden has been reappointing lawyers and judges with a troubled crime record.
(Andrew Caballero)

When Senator John F. Kennedy of Louisiana asked Chowdhury this question at a hearing last year, she said she made the statement to make a “rhetorical remark” during her time as an attorney.

Despite these complaints from the GOP, Democrats believe they will prevail over the nominations this year, given the 51-49 split. When Democrats won a majority last year, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said it would be “much easier” to confirm judges on the bench with a 51-seat majority.

“The practical effect of a majority of 51 seats is great. It is important. This gives us a bridge. We can breathe a sigh of relief,” Schumer said at a press conference in November 2022.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, NY; and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, KY.
(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Obviously, judges and nominees will be much easier to put on the bench. We are very proud of our track record with the judges. This is one of the most significant things, and maybe even the most even of what we have done, ”said Schumer.

“It’s amazing how the Republicans were able to use the 50-50 Senate to procedurally delay so many appointments. It will be much faster, faster and easier,” Schumer added.

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Republicans will need two Democratic no votes to block confirmation of Biden’s election.

Houston Keane of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.