WASHINGTON — Republicans on Thursday postponed for a week a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination of Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins to become the next U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.
President Joe Biden nominated Rollins in July to fill the top federal prosecutor’s role in Massachusetts, which would bring her back to an office she worked in as an assistant U.S. Attorney earlier in her career.
Eight U.S. Attorney nominees were on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda for the first time on Thursday, and seven were advanced with a favorable recommendation.
“Significant prosecutorial experience. These nominees are well-positioned to serve,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin said Rollins’s nomination would be held over until next week at the request of the minority party.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and member of the committee, had previously threatened to block Rollins’s nomination over her progressive approach to prosecution, including her decisions to decline to prosecute some low-level, non-violent crimes.
Cotton’s office released a statement Thursday afternoon saying:
“Rachel Rollins measures success as a prosecutor not by the number of victims she secures justice for, but by the number of criminals she helps avoid consequences. America needs officials who will ensure the rule of law and stand up for the victims of crime—Rollins has not and will not.”
Durbin said 85 nominees for U.S. attorney were processed by the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Trump administration, all of which were confirmed on a voice vote and only three were held over for a week in the committee after appearing on the agenda.
Rollins’ office released a statement following the delay saying:
“Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins remains incredibly humbled by the great honor of being nominated by President Biden to be US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. She looks forward to the confirmation process and is deeply grateful for the wide range of support her nomination has received. She is focused on keeping the residents of Suffolk County safe and working closely with her local law enforcement partners to ensure Boston remains one of the very few major cities in the United States where violent crime is down.”
Rollins’s was the only nomination to be held on Thursday. Neither Cotton nor any other Republicans spoke on the decision to postpone the vote.
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Boston 25 News and the State House News Service contributed to this report.
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