Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday criticized one of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees for blanking on basic questions about the U.S. Constitution in her confirmation hearing last week.
Charnelle Bjelkengren, a county superior court judge in Washington and former assistant state attorney general nominated to a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, couldn’t answer when quizzed by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) about Article II and Article V of the Constitution, and about a judicial philosophy known as “ for confirming judges compared to the 50-50 split they had to contend with in the last Congress. It may only be the difference of one additional seat, but that one seat means Republicans can no longer hold up Biden’s court picks in committee or delay them on the Senate floor.
That said, how bad is it that a nominee to a U.S. district court seat couldn’t answer questions about Article II and Article V of the Constitution?
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor and expert on judicial nominations, said it was a hiccup but nothing that should derail her confirmation given her background.
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“District judges never face Article V issues and Eastern District of Washington judges rarely have constitutional questions,” said Tobias. “She does have a decade of experience as a judge and state assistant attorney general, so I think she will do fine.”
Republicans eager to pounce on Bjelkengren’s misstep are also hoping you’ll forget about how they unanimously confirmed piles of Trump’s judges who earned a rare and embarrassing “not qualified” rating by the American Bar Association.
In his four years in office, Trump nominated 10 people to be lifetime federal judges who were rated “not qualified” for the job, and Republicans went ahead and put eight of them on the courts anyway. For some context, none of President Barack Obama’s court picks got the rating in eight years. Six of President George W. Bush’s nominees earned the rating in his two terms.
Bjelkengren earned a “qualified” rating by the American Bar Association.
If confirmed, Bjelkengren would be the first woman of color to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. She would also be the first Black woman to serve on any federal district court in the state of Washington.
