U.S. Sen. John Kennedy is likely to play a key role in deciding who will fill an open seat on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Frontrunners for the judgeship reportedly include Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga, who has argued four times at the U.S. Supreme Court, most famously for, then against, Louisiana’s congressional map. Anna St. John, who was confirmed to the Eastern District of Louisiana this year with Kennedy’s backing, and James Baehr, the general counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs, also could be in the mix, Bloomberg Law reports.
Kennedy told the publication earlier this month that he had thoughts on who should be nominated but did not disclose his preference. “If the White House does not adequately take Sen. Kennedy’s preferences into consideration, this could go off the rails,” Mike Fragoso, the former chief counsel for former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told Bloomberg Law. The new appointee would fill the seat currently held by Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who told the White House on June 9 that he’d take senior status, a form of semi-retirement for judges. He will continue to hear cases as a senior judge. Kennedy’s position on the Judiciary Committee gives him the ability to sink a nominee, and he has demonstrated a willingness to do so. During Trump’s first term, Kennedy opposed several district court picks who he considered unqualified, causing the White House to withdraw their nominations. At an appearance in New Hampshire earlier this month, Kennedy recounted opposing a Trump nomination but didn’t name the nominee. “I killed one of his judicial nominations one time,” Kennedy said. “The gentleman, nice guy, wasn’t qualified. So I killed him dead as Woodrow Wilson. And I don’t think the president, he didn’t yell at me. He didn’t curse at me, though he has before. He accepted it pretty well.” At a recent Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy grilled judicial nominees on Section 230 protections for internet platforms, qualified immunity for law enforcement officers and the role of judges in interpreting the law. He got each of them to say that they would not ask the president how they should rule in a given case, and chastised them at times for giving lawyerly, rather than direct, answers to his questions.
—They said it: “I said ‘Is that a rhetorical question, or do you want to know?’” –U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy about his response when President Donald Trump asked Republican senators why anyone would vote for the Iran war powers resolution, reported by Semafor
Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.
