The U.S. Senate voted 54-46, principally alongside social gathering traces, on Tuesday to verify Pam Bondi as President Donald Trump’s lawyer common. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally, and has publicly defended him all through his authorized woes and repeated false claims about fraud within the 2020 election. She beforehand labored as lawyer common of Florida, a place she held for eight years.
Sen. John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, joined Republicans in voting sure.
Throughout her affirmation hearings, Bondi repeatedly talked round questions from senators about whether or not she would use her place to assist Trump go after political enemies. She additionally declined to say that Joe Biden legitimately received the 2020 presidential election.
Nonetheless, Bondi’s nomination course of was comparatively clean, a pointy departure from Trump’s first try to nominate former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz to the position. Gaetz — who has notably much less authorized expertise than Bondi and was mired in sexual misconduct allegations — withdrew his identify from consideration in November.
Bondi is the primary lady nominated by a Republican president to function U.S. lawyer common. Janet Reno, nominated by Invoice Clinton, and Loretta Lynch, nominated by Barack Obama, have been the primary two girls to carry the title.
Bondi will lead the Division of Justice (DOJ) because the Trump administration pushes for main restructuring of federal departments and companies. DOJ officers have already fired a number of prosecutors who labored on Trump’s prison instances. They’ve additionally put a freeze on civil rights litigation starting from alleged police misconduct to violations of tenants rights. Greater than 90 civil and human rights organizations issued a letter cautioning senators in opposition to supporting Bondi after her nomination.
“At this vital time for our democracy, Ms. Bondi lacks the independence wanted on the DOJ to construct belief within the division and to make sure the honest enforcement of our nation’s civil rights legal guidelines,” the letter acknowledged.
“Folks in America deserve higher, and so they deserve an lawyer common who will vigorously work for them, implement our federal civil rights legal guidelines, and construct a extra simply, multiracial democracy.”
