Republicans confirm Trump judicial nominee who smeared GOP senators via social media
In recent years, some prominent presidential nominees have struggled to win Senate confirmation because of intemperate tweets. In early 2021, for example, Joe Biden tapped Neera Tanden to lead the White House’s budget office, but Republicans rallied against her because she’d published some rude comments to the platform then known as Twitter.
Tanden expressed regret for her intemperate rhetoric, but her nomination ultimately failed anyway. Just enough senators said she had the necessary qualifications for a White House post, but they couldn’t overcome Tanden having been discourteous online.
This came to mind five years later, watching the confirmation vote on Kara Westercamp. Reuters reported:
A White House lawyer nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on a court that hears litigation regarding trade laws and tariff policies was confirmed to the bench on Tuesday after she apologized for past social media posts that attacked various senators including Republicans.
The Republican-led Senate voted 50-48 in favor of Kara Westercamp becoming a life-tenured judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade, with Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine joining with Democratic lawmakers to oppose her confirmation.
Two GOP senators, North Dakota’s Kevin Cramer and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, did not vote, although their absence did not affect the final outcome.
Senate Republicans had plenty of reasons to balk at the president’s choice. As HuffPost reported ahead of the vote, “In now-deleted social media posts, [Westercamp] assailed several Republican senators who are deciding whether to confirm her to a powerful court seat.”
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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