The Senate has voted to confirm Michael Brennan’s nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
That fills a spot open since 2010, the longest appellate vacancy in the country.
The 49-46 party-line vote Thursday ends a months-long, contentious nomination process that began in August when President Trump nominated the former Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, bypassing the state’s Federal Nominating Commission process in making the pick.
U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson landed on opposite sides of Brennan in his confirmation vote today.
Johnson, R-Oshkosh, knocked Baldwin and Dems in a statement for voting against Brennan, saying they turned his confirmation “into a highly partisan process.”
“Fortunately, their partisan effort failed, and I am excited Wisconsin will be represented on the Seventh Circuit by a smart, capable judge who will apply the law as written,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Baldwin pointed WisPolitics.com to comments the Madison Dem made earlier this week about the nominee.
That includes a Senate floor speech Tuesday night in which Baldwin decried the process of bringing Brennan’s nomination forward even though she withheld her “blue slip.” That power has allowed home-state senators of judicial nominees to block them from getting to a hearing.
“Mr. Brennan did not receive the requisite support from Wisconsin’s bipartisan judicial nominating commission, which has been used, in some form, for nearly four decades to identify candidates for federal judgeships in my home state,” she said.
See the roll call vote:
https://www.senate.gov/
