The Senate Confirmed Him 50–44. That Vote Is Not a Lifetime Shield.

DOCUMENTED

Official portrait of President Barack Obama

Barack Obama, official portrait, 13 January 2009. Pete Souza. CC BY 3.0.

The public record on who John James McConnell Jr. is starts at the Senate, not at cable. The Federal Judicial Center directory records a Barack Obama nomination on January 5, 2011, to the seat vacated by Ernest C. Torres; Senate confirmation on May 4, 2011; and a commission on May 6, 2011. The District of Rhode Island court biography repeats those dates.

The Senate roll-call for May 4, 2011, is vote 66: confirmation of John J. McConnell, Jr., of Rhode Island, to be United States District Judge, nomination PN32. Voteview and the Senate vote menu record the tally as 50–44. The same day, the Senate invoked cloture on the nomination, vote 65, 63–33.

FJC also records two earlier nominations to the same court that received no Senate vote: March 10, 2010, and September 13, 2010. Ranking Member Chuck Grassley’s March 31, 2011, Judiciary statement used the nickname Jack and opposed the nomination. A confirmation is a documented fact. It is not a finding that every later order was lawful.

Sources

Federal Judicial Center. McConnell, John James, Jr. www.fjc.gov

U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. John J. McConnell, Jr. www.rid.uscourts.gov

U.S. Senate. Roll-call vote 66, May 4, 2011 (confirmation, PN32). www.senate.gov

U.S. Senate. Roll-call vote menu, 112th Congress, 1st session (cloture vote 65, 63–33). www.senate.gov

Sen. Chuck Grassley. Ranking Member statement on the nomination of John J. McConnell. March 31, 2011. www.grassley.senate.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Fifty to forty-four. Not 96–0. Obama sent him three times. The Senate put him on the Rhode Island bench. Then he became chief judge. Then he sat on the funding freeze. The vote is real. So is the later House filing.