John Kennedy Decimated Biden Judicial Nominee So Badly, Her Name Was Withdrawn

Joe Biden has a problem picking nominees for positions, particularly for the federal courts.

He doesn't seem to care about the quality of the nominee but rather whether they fit the right political narrative that the Democrats would like to push and if they check the proper boxes.

One of the people who has been very good at pointing out this problem has been Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA). He's exposed the nominees during questioning at Judiciary Committee hearings multiple times.

Now there's good news: Joe Biden has withdrawn one of his nominees, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Charnelle Bjelkengren, because of how badly Kennedy decimated her during questioning. Her nomination expired at the end of 2023, and her name was not among 18 nominees the White House resubmitted to the Senate for further consideration.

Bjelkengren and Holland in separate emails to Reuters confirmed they had asked the White House to not resubmit their names to the Democratic-led Senate.
Bjelkengren, who had been tapped to serve in the Eastern District of Washington, had generated Republican opposition after she could not answer questions posed during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2023 by Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana about the Constitution.
"I asked the President not to re-nominate me due to the uncertainty of my confirmation, and in order to advance the important work of the federal judiciary," Bjelkengren said. "My hope is for the swift confirmation of the next nominee."

Kennedy took a well-deserved victory lap, and you can see how clueless the nominee was.

Pres. Biden sent us a nominee who didn’t know the basics of the U.S. Constitution.

Judge Bjelkengren is right to bow out, but Pres. Biden just keeps trying to put unqualified people on the bench—for life.

People who don't know the law have no business running our courtrooms. pic.twitter.com/QN1325hGk5
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) January 10, 2024

Biden "sent us a nominee who didn’t know the basics of the U.S. Constitution," Kennedy said.

He had asked her basic questions about what Article 5 and Article 2 of the Constitution are, and she had no idea, saying they weren't "coming to mind." She couldn't even hazard a guess. How, as a federal judge, going before the Senate and Kennedy, do you not know the answer to that one?

While he noted she was "right to bow out," the problem, he said, "is that Joe Biden just keeps trying to put unqualified people on the bench—for life."

"People who don't know the law have no business running our courtrooms," he declared.

He's right. He can keep exposing them, as he did here, and he deserves great credit for this effort. But we need to vote Biden out so he doesn't have to keep dealing with the problem.

They’ve seen & heard him question nominees - and yet they STILL don’t come prepared to answer the sorts of questions he’s gonna ask. https://t.co/jabNl4iS3T
— Reine (@ReineDeTout) January 11, 2024

Judges take an oath to “…faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as ___ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”

How the hell can you keep that oath if you don’t know what’s in the Constitution?! https://t.co/T1yNjcIvbb
— Mili (@MILI14) January 11, 2024