Senate Democrats delay Trump pick for Idaho US attorney
Idaho’s pick to become its lead federal prosecutor is caught up in partisan crossfire that has held up many of President Donald Trump’s political nominees from taking office.
Bart Davis, who also served in the appointed U.S. attorney role during Trump’s first term, has for five months awaited U.S. Senate confirmation and now faces another setback as Senate Democrats stalled all of Trump’s picks from filling the positions. A longtime Idaho state senator, Davis was nominated again for his prior federal job in April and continues to wait out the procedural blockade.
In a phone interview, Davis told the Idaho Statesman he is taking the delay in stride. He said he has confidence that Idaho’s two U.S. senators, Republicans Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, will help eventually get his appointment over the finish line.
“I think I’m just caught up with everybody else,” Davis said. “I certainly know a little something about the difficulties of politics and I know that Mike and Jim are doing their level-best to move everything along.”
As with presidential nominees for federal judge openings, those selected for U.S. attorney positions must be approved through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, is the ranking Democrat on the committee and has issued a hold on all U.S. attorney appointments, citing a precedent set by Republican Vice President J.D. Vance, then a senator, on former Democratic President Joe Biden’s nominees.
“As I’ve said time and time again — there cannot be one set of rules for Republicans and another set for Democrats,” Durbin said in May. Today, 93 of Trump’s U.S. attorney nominees remain in confirmation limbo.
Of that total, 10 nominees — including Davis — have advanced out of the committee with their home-state senators’ approval to proceed to the full Senate vote. But Durbin this week put up yet another roadblock by objecting to a procedural step that would allow those picks to sail through the confirmation process.
On Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, condemned the tactic from Senate Democrats and labeled it “blanket obstruction.”
“We have 10 highly qualified nominees on the Senate floor right now waiting for confirmation. There is no reason that we shouldn’t get them to work for the American people today,” Grassley said on the Senate floor. “Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues have engaged in blanket obstruction of all nominees in their misguided attempt to derail the Trump administration.”
The maneuver by Durbin and fellow Democrats has equally raised the hackles of at least one of Idaho’s federal lawmakers.
“Blocking confirmation votes for U.S. attorney nominees in an unprecedented blanket hold is a misguided, damaging political attempt to upend longstanding Senate procedure,” Crapo said in a statement to the Statesman. “It harms victims and delays bringing those charged with crimes to justice. Senate Democrats should stop playing political games and allow the Senate to swiftly confirm U.S. attorney nominees, including Idaho’s Bart Davis, as quickly as possible.”
Davis acknowledged the prolonged period before he can take the reins is a distraction and prevents him from joining the members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho, which is currently overseen by Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott. Davis is eager to get going in his intended post, he said.
“When it happens, it happens,” Davis told the Statesman. “It’ll be my honor to serve my country and my state, and work with the wonderful women and men in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and in law enforcement.”
Risch overlapped with Davis in the Idaho Senate for four years, and also supported Trump’s nomination of his former colleague to return to the role during the president’s second term. Risch is seeking a fourth term in the U.S. Senate in next year’s general election.
Risch’s congressional office did not return a request for comment.