Senate Panel Advances McConnell-Backed Nominee for Circuit Court

(Bloomberg) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of a judge allied with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to serve on a federal appeals court, over Democrats' objections that he's too biased and inexperienced.

The party-line 12-10 committee vote on Thursday sets the stage for Justin Walker's likely confirmation in the GOP-dominated Senate.

Democrats sought to block Walker -- who has served as a U.S. district court judge in Kentucky for seven months -- from being elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is seen as a launching pad for future Supreme Court justices.

“Can anyone here say with a straight face that this 38-year-old individual, with no practical courtroom experience and a few months on the job as a district court judge in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is the best person for this?” said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. “He's not and we know it.”

Other Democrats pointed to a 2018 opinion article in which Walker called the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, “an indefensible decision.” Walker said he wrote his op-ed before becoming a judge, and that he recognized the decision as precedent-setting.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said Walker is “mission driven” and lacks the judicial temperament needed on the bench.

No Republicans spoke about the confirmation before the panel voted Thursday. Walker drew wide support from Republicans at his May 6 confirmation hearing, where he said he will adhere to principles of “originalism,” in which judges follow closely the original intentions of those who drafted a law.

McConnell's move to get Walker onto the circuit court underscores the majority leader's effort to reshape the federal judiciary by helping confirm conservative-leaning judges.

Walker, a Harvard Law School honors graduate, served as an intern in McConnell's office when he was a student at Duke University, and later clerked for Kavanaugh at the D.C. Circuit and for then-Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.