This Week in the Senate: 5/13/2019

This week, the Senate is holding votes on at least four five nominations, and the Judiciary Committee will convene an executive business meeting.

Floor Action:
Monday:

• The Senate will vote to invoke cloture at 5:30 pm on the nomination of Orgain Bell & Tucker partner Michael Truncale to be a judge of the Eastern District of Texas in the Beaumont division. Truncale is a former member of the Texas senators' judicial nominating commission, and he also was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2012 Republican primary for Texas's 14th Congressional District, a seat that was vacated by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in his unsuccessful presidential bid. Due to controversies over various statements he made during his campaign, Truncale is opposed by many activist groups, and thus his cloture and confirmation votes will pass on very narrow lines.

Tuesday:

• The Senate will vote to confirm Truncale, and will then vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Jenner & Block partner Kenneth K. Lee to be a judge on the Ninth Circuit. Lee does not have blue slips from either of California's Democratic senators, and he faces opposition due to political writings from his undergraduate days at Cornell University. The last nominees with incendiary college publications were D.C. Circuit nominee Neomi Rao and  Ninth Circuit nominee Ryan Bounds. Bounds withdrew his nomination after it became evident that he did not have the votes for confirmation, while Rao was confirmed. I think the outcome in Lee's case will be closer to Rao's than Bounds', because of the expanded Republican Senate majority, and due to the fact that Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a major player in the Bounds debacle, seems to be more supportive of his nomination. This is a vote worth watching live to see for yourself if any fireworks happen.

Wednesday:

• If cloture is invoked on Lee, the Senate might either use all 30 hours of post-cloture debate on the nomination (Cf. the Bianco nomination last week), or cede some of it back to allow for a confirmation vote on Wednesday. Regardless of when the eventual confirmation vote occurs, the Senate will vote immediately after to invoke cloture on the nomination of Wendy Vitter, who currently serves as the General Counsel of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. Due to her expressed views on abortion and associated work with her husband's congressional and senatorial campaigns, along with questions about her legal experience, the cloture and confirmation votes on her nomination will be on partisan lines. Next, the Senate will vote on cloture and confirmation of Mike Pompeo aide Brian Bulatao to be an Undersecretary of State for Management.

Thursday:

• The Senate will wrap up any business from earlier in the week that runs over. The Senate will vote to invoke cloture on and confirm the nomination of Deputy Secretary of Transportation Jeffrey A. Rosen to be Deputy Attorney General.

On Thursday, the Judiciary Committee will hold an executive session to vote on and/or hold over the following nominations (the number in the parentheses appearing after the nominee's name signifies whether this is the first or second time appearing on the agenda; first-time appearances are typically held over and nominees appearing for the second time usually receive votes):

District Court / Court of Federal Claims:

1. Ada E. Brown, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas (1)
2. Steven D. Grimberg, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia (1)
3. David John Novak, to be a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia (1)
4. Matthew H. Solomson, to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (1)

Update # 1 (5/13/2019): Added Jeffrey A. Rosen to floor agenda.