Fourth Circuit Nominee Faces GOP Flak Despite Bipartisan Support

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans criticized a Biden nominee for the Virginia-based federal appeals court of over decisions granting bond and early release of defendants, despite her support from both of her GOP home-state senators.

Judiciary members Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) were among those who questioned US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit nominee DeAndrea Gist Benjamin over past criminal cases at a Tuesday hearing.

The lines of questioning are the latest example of Judiciary Republicans’ focus on criminal cases where they argue nominees have been too lenient. Among the cases that drew the senators’ ire was a murder case in which Benjamin granted bond for a defendant who later allegedly used a child as a shield during a shootout with law enforcement.

“Do you think it was a mistake to release a violent criminal on bond when he went out and committed yet another violent crime?” Cruz said to Benjamin.

Benjamin, currently a South Carolina state court judge, said she initially denied bond for the defendant charged with murder but granted it roughly two years later when the he was asking for a speedy trial. At that time, she said the state violated the court’s order to try his case and there were issues with discovery.

“In considering any bond, senator, I consider the United States Constitution, the South Carolina Constitution, and I have to consider the bond statute of the General Assembly in South Carolina,” Benjamin said to Cruz.

Benjamin also said several times she couldn’t discuss specifics because the 2017 case is still pending.

But Benjamin also has important support from Republicans. South Carolina Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham both returned “blue slips,” a formal recognition of approval, on her nomination Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said at the start of the hearing. She was also introduced by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

“It’s an amazing demonstration of belief in what you produced in your life and what you can produce in years to follow,” Durbin said of her support.

Scott and Graham didn’t respond to requests for comment on Benjamin’s nomination.

Durbin defended Benjamin’s record in response to the questions about her decision to grant bond, noting Benjamin had issued an estimated 1000 opinions, roughly 59 of which were appealed and 10 of which were reversed.

“I sure wish senators had that record. It would really, really make life a lot easier for us up here too,” Durbin said. “And it seems to me unusual that the other side of the bench here is really just focused on one case.”

The Republican questions echoed similar criticism Benjamin received during her 2021 bid for a seat on the South Carolina Court of Appeals, according to an article from The Post and Courier. Benjamin lost that election in the state legislature.

The hearing for Benjamin and five district court nominees was the first since Democrats retained control of the chamber in the midterm elections by winning at least 50 seats. A runoff in Georgia’s US Senate race will determine whether they pick up an additional seat.

The win takes the pressure off Democratic efforts to confirm nominees in the lame duck, though Democrats are still expected to continue moving judges forward.

On Monday, the first night back after the election, the chamber voted 51-43 to invoke cloture, or limited debate, on Maria del R. Antongiorgi-Jordan’s nomination to the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Her confirmation vote was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.