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Senate holds off on vote for federal judgeships, including Pittsburgh nominee for appeals court

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Senate holds off on vote for federal judgeships, including Pittsburgh nominee for appeals court

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Thursday to consider the nominations of various candidates for federal judgeships, including Pittsburgh's David Porter, but didn't vote on any of them.

The next possible date for a vote would be next Thursday.

Mr. Porter was nominated by President Trump in April for a seat on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Pennsylvania’s senators are split over whether he should become a judge, with Democrat Bob Casey opposed to him and Republican Pat Toomey in support.

Pittsburgh corporate and constitutional attorney David Porter in a April 10, 2018, file photo at his Downtown offices at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. President Donald Trump has nominated Porter to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the Republican chairman of the committee, said at the meeting that he will continue to hold hearings for circuit court nominees who lack support from both home-state senators as long as the White House has “adequately consulted” with the lawmakers.

“One senator generally doesn’t have the right to block the other 99 of us from merely considering a circuit court nominee so long as the White House consulted that Senator,” he said.

He said the White House consulted with Mr. Casey about Mr. Porter more than a year before the nomination but that Mr. Casey didn’t suggest anyone else.

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Jacklin Rhoads, Mr. Casey’s spokesperson, said that’s not true.

“The White House is lying,” she said. “No one should be surprised that an administration, which lies with pathological zeal about everything from crowd sizes to basic statistics, would make false representations about the judicial nomination process.”

She said Mr. Casey stands by his record. She said the senator, along with Mr. Toomey, has helped confirm 14 federal district court judges since 2011.

First Published: July 12, 2018, 6:41 p.m.
Updated: July 12, 2018, 8:55 p.m.

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