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Judge Aileen Cannon on Wednesday unsealed more records related to Jack Smith’s classified documents case against Trump. The newly unsealed documents detail allegations that Jack Smith’s prosecutor Jay Bratt threatened Stanley Woodward, an attorney for Trump’s valet driver Walt Nauta. Jay Bratt tried to bribe Stanley Woodward and threatened him with a sinking judicial nomination if he didn’t get Walt Nauta to testify against Trump. “Upon Mr. Woodward’s arrival at Main Justice, he was led to a conference room where Mr. Bratt awaited with what appeared to be a folder containing information about Mr. Woodward. Mr. Bratt thereupon told Mr....

Now that the midterm elections are over, Republicans have decided to use the next two months to be productive during a lame-duck session. According to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Republican senators will work through New Year's Eve to confirm all of President Donald Trump's pending judicial nominations, The Washington Times reported. The decision comes after Democrats made a pact to take the maximum amount of time to debate Trump's picks, which could severely hinder the GOP's legislative priority of packing the federal courts with conservative judges. “I know that Sen. McConnell has made a commitment that we’re not going to leave any...

Senate Republicans blocked a vote on the nomination of Robert Bacharach to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Tenth Circuit court in Oklahoma on Monday because they said it violated an election-year practice. The 56-34-3 vote came despite previously-stated support of Bacharach from the Oklahoma Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and James Inhofe. They chose not to vote against what their party leadership urged, instead they voted present. Sixty votes were needed to clear the proceedural hurdle. “I cannot vote against this guy, but I can vote present,” Inhofe said before the vote. Republicans said ahead of time that they’d...

The Senate's next Republican leader issued a veiled threat to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush's troubled judicial nominations. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become minority leader Jan. 4, told the conservative Federalist Society Friday not to feel bad about the Senate election results because Republicans will hold 49 seats in a body that requires 60 votes to end a filibuster and bring legislation or presidential nominees to a final vote. If the "Democrats want our cooperation, they'll give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote," McConnell said. Vice President...

Washington -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a pro-choice Republican, strongly warned President Bush Monday against any "sharp turns" as he ponders a second Supreme Court vacancy. The prospect of that looming vacancy overshadowed the opening of Senate debate on Judge John Roberts, headed for easy confirmation to be 17th Chief Justice of the United States, replacing the late William Rehnquist, a conservative stalwart who died earlier this month. Bush is expected to name his choice for the second and far more pivotal vacancy left by retiring centrist Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as soon as the Senate votes to...

"I have never and would never apply any litmus test on the abortion issue," Specter said.

Floor Schedule Thursday, May 8, 2003 9:30 a.m. Thursday: convene and vote on the adoption of the resolution of ratification to the NATO Expansion Treaty. Following the vote, resume consideration of S. 14, the Energy Bill 12:15 p.m.: vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Estrada nomination. If cloture is not invoked, a cloture vote on the Owen nomination will occur after which there may be a period of morning business. Thereafter, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 113, the FISA bill.

Democrats plan filibuster against Texan Owen's nomination GOP criticizes 'obstructionist' tactic against Bush nominees04/30/2003 By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats deployed their strongest weapon against another judicial nominee Tuesday, vowing to filibuster Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen as a conservative activist who they say doesn't deserve a seat on a federal appeals court. Republicans decried the tactic as "obstructionist." Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said, "Her record is so egregious that we have no choice but to filibuster." Democrats are already using the parliamentary tactic to keep conservative lawyer...

Owen returns to Senate Judiciary Committee 03/13/2003 By JESSE J. HOLLAND / The Associated PressWASHINGTON — Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen is returning to the Senate Judiciary Committee in hopes that its new GOP majority finally can move her appellate nomination to the full Senate.Democrats blocked President Bush's home-state candidate from a seat on the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans last year, but Republicans said Owen's willingness to face more questions Thursday from Democrats shows she's ready to move up to the federal bench."She can handle it," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Let's have a...

Owen gets new chance at bench 03/07/2003 From Staff Reports WASHINGTON – Spurned last year by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen will have a second chance to make her case for a federal appellate judgeship. The committee's chairman, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, set a hearing for next week with Justice Owen as the lone witness. Democrats, who controlled the panel last year, rejected her nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, accusing her of compiling an activist record hostile to workers and abortion rights. Her defenders called the charges...

For Owen, is second time a charm? Her odds may be better as Democrats target other judicial nominee 01/28/2003 By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - Snubbed last year for a federal appeals court seat, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen will be back soon for a second try. And with the Senate now in Republican hands, Justice Owen and her supporters are hoping for a far different fate than the one she received last year from Democrats. While her chances are significantly better, the outcome is not guaranteed in a Senate narrowly divided between both...

Just one week after Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee killed the federal-appeals-court nomination of Priscilla Owen, Republicans are bracing for a fight over another so-called "controversial" White House judicial choice. This time the candidate is Michael McConnell, a University of Utah law professor selected for a place on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. McConnell was one of the president's first nominees, chosen on May 9, 2001. Democrats failed to act on the nomination for more than 15 months until this week, when Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy abruptly scheduled McConnell's hearing for next Wednesday. At the hearing and...