Senator Jeff Flake has threatened to block votes on all of President Donald Trump’s appellate court nominees, using it as a bargaining chip to get the desired action on two non-related issues.
Namely, Flake wants to put travel restrictions to Cuba and tariffs-related issues up for discussion, a source said. Flake later told CNN they were already “discussing it,” without elaborating further.
The GOP senator, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, could impede the committee’s work, where Republicans hold a one-seat advantage over Democrats if he doesn’t change his mind. Should Flake refuse to support the appellate nominees, it could compromise their nominations. Most judges are voted out of the committee along party lines.
It has been a priority of both President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm these circuit court nominees. On Wednesday night, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley acknowledged that if Flake decided to block the votes on these nominees, his hands could be tied.
He added that he will not schedule votes on the judges until Flake has indicated he’ll support the nominees.
“If it is a controversial one, we probably would have to have all 11 Republicans. So if one Republican wouldn’t vote, and it’s 10 to 10, then we’re not going to take it up,” he said, adding however that since the Senate nominations calendar was so full, these votes would not have been scheduled until September anyway.
“I could probably wait for a month to vote any more judges out, so there is nothing immediately of concern to me as far as the work of the committee is concerned,” he noted. “If we don’t vote for any more judges that Flake doesn’t want to vote for until September, we still probably got plenty to do.”
Flake has lately become one of the most vocal critics of the President, expressing concerns and criticism over his decision to implement steep tariffs on U.S. allies and revoke an Obama-era policy which lifted travel restrictions to Cuba.
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