The Senate confirmed Georgetown University Law Center professor Cornelia “Nina” Pillard to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit early this morning, amid escalating political bickering over a rules change that allowed for the vote.
The 51-44 vote finished at about 1:15 a.m., an unusually late cap to a day when Republicans took to the Senate floor to speak against Pillard’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), early on Wednesday called Pillard “a liberal ideologue” who will “rubber stamp” President Barack Obama’s legislative and regulatory proposals.
