WASHINGTON DC — Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on whether to advance President Donald Trump’s U.S. Attorney General nominee, Todd Blanche, to the full Senate, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law released the following statement from Chanel Sherrod, policy advisor on Voting Rights and Democracy:
“The attorney general’s first duty is to the Constitution and the American people, not to the president who nominated them. Todd Blanche has spent the last two years serving not the American people but Donald Trump as his personal attorney, and his confirmation hearing has not alleviated our grave concerns over whether he will prioritize the interests of the nation above loyalty to one individual. Protecting the rule of law is critical for our democracy; the Senate Judiciary Committee must carefully examine Blanche’s record and proceed accordingly.
“Mr. Blanche’s record raises serious questions about whether he will lead the Department of Justice independently. While representing the president, he argued in court filings that the president never called for violence on January 6th. Now, as acting attorney general, he has overseen actions minimizing the department’s own prosecutorial record of those responsible for the attack on the Capitol, dismissing such records as ‘partisan propaganda.’ He claims not to have been consulted before more than 1,500 individuals charged in connection with the January 6th attack were pardoned, yet he has since defended this clemency and categorized it as constitutionally permissible.
“These concerns aren’t confined to only one side of the aisle. Multiple senators on the Judiciary Committee have expressed that Blanche must demonstrate that he is an independent attorney general who previously represented the president, rather than a personal defense attorney who now oversees the Department of Justice. With his fitness for the job facing scrutiny across the political spectrum, the Judiciary Committee should listen closely and reject this nomination.”
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