Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday canceled a confirmation vote for a controversial federal judge nominated by President Joe Biden.
Democrats appeared not to have the votes to confirm Mustafa Taher Kasubhai to be a federal judge for the District of Oregon amid Republican opposition to his views on race, diversity, and gender.
A simple majority was required in a chamber Democrats control 51-49. It was not clear when Schumer would revisit the nomination, though he could try again on Thursday when attendance is expected to be spotty, with senators leaving early for the two-week July 4 recess. He would only go so far as to say Democrats would try again “soon.”
“We had a number of people out for a number of different reasons,” Schumer told reporters. “But we’re going to keep moving forward on judicial nominees, and even when we haven’t gotten Republican cooperation in many instances, we have a record number of judicial nominees that we have nominated and put on the bench.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) described Kasubhai as the “latest in the Biden administration’s parade of unfit nominations to the federal bench.”
“Judge Kasubhai’s record and judicial philosophy put him well outside the mainstream,” McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor on Monday. “This nominee has bragged about his lack of commitment to standard jurisprudential practices.”
The Senate GOP leader referenced some of Kasubhai’s prior comments made on and off the bench, including the need to “set aside conventional ideas of proof … when we are dealing with the interpersonal work of equity, diversity, and inclusion.” McConnell also accused him of sounding “like a committed Marxist” when discussing property law and the scarcity of natural resources, a claim Kasubhai has rejected.
“A judge’s job is to follow the law, not the passing fads of ‘woke’ politics,” McConnell said.
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Democrats have defended Kasubhai as a qualified nominee, citing his six years as a magistrate judge. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), one of his home state senators, delivered a floor speech on Monday describing him as someone who is dedicated to the rule of law.
Kasubhai’s nomination was advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee in November along party lines.
