Sen. Tillis threatens ‘consequences’ after Democrats vote to advance NC nominee as judge
Sen. Thom Tillis warned his Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues Thursday morning that they would face consequences if they approved a judicial nominee that he and Sen. Ted Budd are vehemently opposed to.
They did it anyway.
The committee approved, in an 11-10 party-line vote, President Joe Biden’s nomination of North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park to serve on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now his nomination goes to the Senate floor, where Tillis says he has the numbers to block Park’s nomination from moving forward.
But before the committee even got that far, Tillis told Democrats they would not like him in the next Congress if they helped Biden get his nominee confirmed, and reminded them that he “probably out-voted anyone here on taking a tough vote” supporting Biden and Obama administration judges.
“I’m kind of wondering what Thom Tillis needs to show up in the next administration,” the North Carolina Republican said from the dais. “The Thom Tillis who was here last time and wanted to work with you guys on some of these judicial nominations or the Thom Tillis who reflexively says no.”
Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, told the committee that Park had garnered a lot of support.
“Individuals from across the political spectrum support his nomination, including a bipartisan group of current and former state solicitors general, a bipartisan group of Supreme Court clerks and the National Fraternal Order of the Police,” Durbin said.
He added that the Biden administration far exceeded what was expected of it in consulting with Tillis and Budd in Park’s nomination, from delaying the process to interviewing and reviewing alternate candidates that the senators put forward.
‘He doesn’t have the votes’
The vote was called and Tillis watched senators support Park. When Tillis’ name was called he made his anger clear.
“I got my answer,” Tillis said, before adding his own vote against Park’s nomination.
North Carolina’s Republican senators have been at odds with the White House throughout the past year over Park.
Before becoming the state’s solicitor general, he worked in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, as well as 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Katzmann and Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In July, Tillis received permission in the committee to show video of Park talking that Tillis said showed Park’s partisan leanings. Other Republicans on the committee accused him of being a liberal activist.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Tillis called the White House counsel “absolutely incompetent,” saying that office put forward four potential nominees that included Budd’s opponent in the 2022 election, former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, “someone who is patently partisan, has a track record to substantiate it and they think that’s a serious list for me to choose from,” Tillis said. “And then, when I provide them a list of four, they say, not only are they not fit for the Fourth Circuit, but we wouldn’t even consider them for a district court judge.”
Tillis told the committee that approving Park on Wednesday makes his job easier in the next year because he will fall in line with the incoming Trump administration.
And he apologized in advance for when he reminds them that they took this vote.
He was still fuming when he left the hearing a little while longer.
“This was a game from the beginning, and I knew it,” Tillis said, to reporters waiting in the hall. “The only way Ryan Park gets confirmed is if (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer waits for somebody to have a funeral or a reason to be out and he thinks he can slot them in on a day — when he knows he doesn’t have the votes.”
Tillis said Schumer is calling the shots from here and if he chooses to “play games” on Park’s nomination, that will set the tone on what Tillis does during the Trump administration.
“Elections and votes have consequences, and they’re about to see the consequences on this,” Tillis said.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Sen. Tillis threatens ‘consequences’ after Democrats vote to advance NC nominee as judge."