Columbia Standard

U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who serves as the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, engaged in a line of questioning with Justice Department executive nominees during a committee hearing. The nominees included Aaron Reitz, nominated for Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy, and John Sauer, nominated to be Solicitor General of the United States.

Durbin questioned Reitz about his past comments on social media regarding federal court orders. He referred to a tweet by Reitz from March 2020 when U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel temporarily blocked Texas from closing abortion clinics amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In response to this decision, Reitz tweeted: “Looking for some Andrew Jackson-level leadership on this one. ‘Judge Yeakel has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.’”

Durbin highlighted that this tweet alluded to a story involving President Andrew Jackson's supposed defiance of a Supreme Court ruling and asked Reitz if he stood by his statement. Reitz replied that his tweet reflected "a conservative view of Article Three and the role of courts."

When pressed further by Durbin on whether an elected official should be allowed to defy a federal court order, Reitz stated that there are instances where public officials are lawfully bound by court holdings but could not generalize for all cases.

Durbin expressed concern over Reitz's stance, stating it was "an incredible statement by someone who wants to be part of the Department of Justice."

The same question was posed to John Sauer, who refrained from discussing hypotheticals. Durbin emphasized the importance of understanding how nominees might approach constitutional challenges and concerns about potential defiance of court orders by current or future presidents.

Sauer concluded by asserting that he did not find it plausible that President Trump would defy a court order, despite Trump's previous statement: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

Video, audio, and footage of Durbin’s questions in Committee are available for viewing.