Senate panel advances judicial nominees from Ohio

WASHINGTON — Former Ohio Solicitor Eric Murphy and attorney Chad Readler each moved one step closer to joining the federal appeals court in Cincinnati after a Senate panel approved their nominations Thursday.

By a party-line vote of 12-10, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave a seal of approval to Murphy and Readler, who were nominated last year by President Donald Trump to fill vacancies on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Although Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-ohio, has pledged to vigorously oppose their nominations on the Senate floor, both are likely to be confirmed because Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-ohio, has been an enthusiastic supporter of the nominees and introduced them to the Judiciary Committee last year during their confirmation hearings.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., is expected to schedule a floor vote in the near future.

Murphy, a one-time law clerk to former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, served as state solicitor in the office of Attorney General Mike Dewine for six years. He argued cases involving appeals before the Ohio Supreme Court, the 6th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Murphy provoked intense criticism from Brown when he filed papers in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that Ohio’s ban on same-sex marriage did not violate the U.S. Constitution.

Later that year, the justices found Ohio’s law unconstitutional, by a 5-4 vote.

Readler, a former partner in the Columbus law office of Jones Day, has been principal deputy and acting assistant attorney general for the civil division at the Justice Department. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan law school.

Trump tapped Murphy and Readler to fill the seats of Alice Batchelder and Deborah Cook, who are taking senior status.