Two Trump judicial picks are struggling to reach a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance their nominations to federal court seats in Mississippi, the panel’s chair said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Bloomberg Law on Wednesday that James Maxwell and Robert Chamberlin, both Mississippi Supreme Court justices, are having some “trouble” within the Republican-led panel that’s now delayed votes on their selections five times in the past five weeks.
Grassley didn’t specify what the snags might be. “The only ones that I personally know have trouble are the Mississippi people, but I’m not going to talk to why they have trouble. You have to talk to other people about that,” Grassley said.
But the issue isn’t related to their records. “The delay in advancing the Mississippi nominations is unrelated to the candidates themselves,” a committee spokesperson said.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
When asked about the status of the nominees last week, Mississippi’s senior senator, Roger Wicker, said he would “respectfully decline to comment.” Neither of the state’s Republican lawmakers serve on the Judiciary Committee.
Most judicial nominees receive committee votes within a couple of weeks of their confirmation hearings, depending on the Senate schedule. Occasionally, the process takes longer. But the delays involving the Mississippi nominees is unusual, especially since multiple votes have been postponed without explanation.
Chamberlin’s been nominated to the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. He previously served in the Mississippi state Senate.
Maxwell is Trump’s other choice for a federal judgeship on that trial court. He was previously a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals and a federal prosecutor in the Northern District.
(Updates with committee statement. Story originally published Oct. 29.)
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