Wyrick clears hurdle in Senate
Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Patrick Wyrick cleared a major hurdle Thursday in his bid to become a federal judge.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved Wyrick’s nomination along party lines, with 11 Republicans voting in support and 10 Democrats opposing his nomination to sit on the federal bench in the Western District of Oklahoma.
His nomination overcame concerns about his ties to former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who now serves as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Democrats also asked the committee to delay the vote because the American Bar Association hadn’t yet said whether it regards him as qualified for the position.
Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin said Wyrick has a troubling record, including his role arguing Pruitt’s legal stances in court as Oklahoma’s solicitor general.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, downplayed the lack of an ABA recommendation, which has traditionally been a requirement of federal judicial nominees.
“In my opinion, the ABA has had plenty of time to perform its evaluation, and I’ve said so many times that outside groups can’t dictate the committee’s schedule. I’m skeptical of the usefulness of the ABA,” Grassley said. “Each member of this committee has had the opportunity to vet Justice Wyrick, and has enough information to form their opinions. I think it’s clear that regardless of the ABA’s opinion, Justice Wyrick is highly qualified to serve on the district court.”
The full U.S. Senate can now schedule a vote on Wyrick’s nomination.
Ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., however, said the Senate should wait. She criticized the lack of writings and speeches from President Donald Trump’s judicial appointees, saying it’s hard for Senate staffers to evaluate what kind of a judge they would be. That’s why, she said, the committee is sometimes limited to the ABA’s report based on interviews with colleagues.
“Those of us on this side of the aisle are concerned that the committee is moving forward with the vote despite that. Nominees have been rolling through this committee at an unprecedented rate, and it’s hard for me to understand why we can’t just wait for the ABA to do its work,” Feinstein said during the early morning hearing on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
Wyrick, she added, provided three writings and information from nine speeches and panels on which he appeared.
“This is not a lot of information for us to be able to discern what kind of a federal judge he would be,” she said.
Delegation reaction
Oklahoma’s Senate delegation congratulated Wyrick, who has also been placed on the list of possible U.S. Supreme Court candidates should Trump need to fill a vacancy. Neither James Lankford or Jim Inhofe sits on the Judiciary Committee, but they will have a vote when the nomination comes to the floor.
“Justice Wyrick has served the state of Oklahoma well in his role on the State Supreme Court, and he will continue to serve our state and nation well as a U.S. District Court judge,” Lankford said. “I encourage my colleagues to support his nomination when it reaches the Senate floor in the days ahead.”
Inhofe said Wyrick values the constitutional role of the judiciary and is wellqualified for the role.
“I look forward to his swift confirmation before the full Senate,” he said.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it could be months before a final vote as the Senate whittles down the list of appointees. He said it was uncommon for judicial nominees to be advanced without an ABA rating before Trump became president.
“It used to never happen, but under Trump, Republicans have been having hearings and votes before they have the reports,” Tobias said.
The ABA has also said it would conduct a second evaluation of Wyrick, something Tobias said often precedes a “not qualified” rating. While rare, the Senate has confirmed appointees with a negative ABA rating.