Padilla Questions Trump’s Unfit Department of Justice Nominees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned three of President Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) nominees. The nominees before the Senate were John Sauer, to be Solicitor General of the United States, Harmeet Dhillon, to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and Aaron Reitz, to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy.
Padilla opened his questions with concerns over Republican DOJ nominees’ apparent willingness to disregard the rule of law and ignore court orders they disagree with.
- “There’s been a number of Department of Justice nominees that have come before us, most, if not all, echoing over and over again, the respect for the Constitution, the commitment for the Constitution, a commitment to the rule of law, yet, when pressed about whether or not they would be loyal to the Constitution versus potential directives or decisions contrary to existing law in the Constitution, they don’t give strong answers, at least none that give us the comfort level that we, the American people, need and deserve.”
Padilla also called out Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco-based lawyer nominated to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, for her alarming track record of restricting the right to vote, spreading disinformation about the 2020 election, and perpetuating discriminatory laws. He also criticized Dhillon for her failed 2019 lawsuit against California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, alleging issues with the state’s motor voter program. An audit found no widespread voter fraud, and Dhillon’s lawsuit was unsuccessful, along with all of her other voting-related lawsuits brought against California while Senator Padilla was Secretary of State.
- “As a fellow Californian, I’ve seen your work closely. You’ve opposed key voting rights protections over the years, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. You fought against the use of [the] Voting Rights Act to challenge discriminatory laws. You’ve also spread disinformation about the 2020 election, and you’ve defended restrictive voting laws in multiple states. … How can you convince us that, based on this track record, that you would equally enforce, fairly enforce voting rights through the Department of Justice?”
Padilla also pressed Solicitor General nominee John Sauer, Missouri’s former Solicitor General, on President Trump’s unlawful Executive Order attempting to end birthright citizenship for certain children born in the United States in direct violation of the text of the Constitution and binding Supreme Court precedent. If confirmed, Sauer would be tasked with representing the United States before the Supreme Court, including for a potential case on birthright citizenship. Sauer refused to answer the Senator’s question.
- “As an attorney, though, admitted to any state bar in the country, you’re tasked with obeying and defending the Constitution of the United States. Now, the President’s already defied the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent in issuing an Executive Order in regards to birthright citizenship. We talked about this in my office, I told you I was going to ask you in this hearing, can you please articulate for the committee the current binding Supreme Court precedent with respect to birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment?”
Additionally, Padilla criticized Aaron Reitz — who is nominated to lead the DOJ Office of Legal Policy — for his since-deleted tweets attacking landmark LGBTQ+ civil rights decisions in Bostock v. Clayton County and Obergefell v. Hodges, denouncing constitutional birthright citizenship, spreading false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, and even seemingly praising McCarthyism. Reitz admitted that each of these hateful tweets were his.
Video of Padilla’s remarks is available here.
More information on the hearing is available here.
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