Hawley facing conservative group’s ad barrage over possible opposition to Trump judicial nominee

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

Feb. 26-- Feb. 26--WASHINGTON -- A conservative group says it will run $500,000 in advertising in Missouri to pressure Sen. Josh Hawley to support President Donald Trump's nominee for a federal judgeship.

Hawley says the nominee, Neomi Rao, has a judicial philosophy and views on abortion rights that he may not be able to support.

Hawley, R-Mo., is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which could consider Rao's nomination as soon as this week, and is undecided whether he will support her. If confirmed, Rao would replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the District of Columbia's Court of Appeals.

"I want to make sure that Naomi Rao is pro-life -- it is as simple as that," Hawley told KFTK 97.1 FM Newstalk's Marc Cox on Monday morning.

Hawley said he is concerned from Rao's writings that she has a "warm view" toward "substantive due process" -- a judicial doctrine that underpins the 1973 Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion that conservatives have long opposed. Hawley said Rao lacks sufficient prosecutorial experience to determine her position on "substantive due process" from that.

Rao appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee this month.

Hawley said that Rao has "written some things in the past that suggest to me that she might be more of a judicial activist" than conservatives could stomach.

The Judicial Crisis Network, a strong supporter of Trump, plans to buy $500,000 in TV, radio and digital advertising in Missouri urging Hawley to support Rao.

"Neomi Rao is President Trump's nominee to the second highest court in the land because she is committed to the Constitution and because she has been a warrior in President Trump's fight against government overreach," said Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network.

"Sadly, barely a month after moving to Washington, Josh Hawley is already acting like Claire McCaskill when it comes to judges," Severino said, referring to the Democrat Hawley defeated last November.

Hawley so far has been a solid supporter of Trump's nominees, including Attorney General William Barr. But Rao gives him pause, he said.

Other conservative groups are weighing in, as well.

Reed now heads the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

The tough language directed to Hawley from conservative groups is a get-on-board message to a senator who is just in his second month in the Senate.

Severino accused Hawley of "spreading the very same kind of rumors and innuendo and character assassination that Republican leaders fought during Justice Kavanaugh's nomination."

Hawley said, "I'm just trying to do my due diligence," and he suggested this would be his mode of operation on all nominees. That's why Rao's confirmation could be a telling early vote in his Senate career.

Carl Tobias, an expert on the judicial nomination process and a law professor at the University of Richmond, said Hawley is joining Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., in being one of the few Republicans on the Judiciary Committee asking "rigorous" questions of Trump nominees.

"This may be Hawley's 'declaration of independence,'" Tobias said. "However, in the end, I expect that GOP leadership will prevail on Hawley to support Trump's nominee, because Republican senators have rubber-stamped virtually all Trump circuit nominees so far. Indeed, throughout all of 2017, Kennedy cast the sole GOP negative confirmation vote for a single Trump judicial nominee."

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