Senate Democrats spent much of the first hearing on President Donald Trump’s second-term judicial nominees Wednesday grilling his pick for an influential federal appeals court about whether presidents must follow court orders.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday took up five judicial nominations, spending the bulk of time on Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The hearing comes as courts across the country have blocked — at least temporarily — some of Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government, prompting the president and his allies to lash out. Democrats pressed Hermandorfer on whether she would decide against the president.
“My role would be to carry out my oath to the Constitution, first and foremost,” Hermandorfer told told Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), adding that she’d rule against the administration “if that’s what the law requires.”
