Senate confirms Menashi to U.S. Court of Appeals in New York
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Steven Menashi to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, after a bruising fight in which Democrats including Menashis two home state senators sharply criticized the Trump judicial nominees record. Menashi was confirmed on a 51-to-41 vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on his confirmation in September, just two days after he was nominated to the powerful federal bench by President Trump.
Menashi, 40, is an associate counsel to the president. He previously was acting general counsel in the Education Department under Secretary Betsy DeVos. He has also worked as an assistant law professor at George Mason University and as a partner at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
Ahead of Thursdays vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged members to back Menashi, calling him an impressive nominee. Menashi won majority support on the Judiciary Committee on the basis of strong academic and legal qualifications, said McConnell, who has been instrumental in pushing Trumps judicial appointees through the Senate at a record pace. McConnell pointed to Menashis education at Dartmouth and Stanford, his federal and Supreme Court clerkships and his experience teaching and practicing law.
Democrats, however, were unreservedly critical of both Menashis record and the nominee himself. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Menashi one of the most contemptible nominees to come before the Senate in all my time in this body. He would be a disgrace a disgrace to the seat once held by the great Thurgood Marshall, Schumer said in remarks on the Senate floor, calling Menashi a textbook example of someone who does not deserve to sit on the federal bench.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-confirms-menashi-to-us-court-of-appeals-in-new-york/2019/11/14/0d5a9ce6-0704-11ea-8292-c46ee8cb3dce_story.html