We’re about to find out whether Republican senators can still say no

Todd Blanche, then President Donald Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general, appears at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Feb. 12, 2025. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Last Monday, two days before the Senate hearing to consider Todd Blanche’s nomination to become the nation’s chief law enforcement official, a federal judge strongly suggested that he may not even be fit to practice law.

Earlier this year, Blanche agreed to a settlement that resulted in tax audit immunity for President Donald Trump and his family as well as a potential $1.8 billion payout fund controlled by his administration. It was an inside deal: Trump the citizen was on one side of the negotiation, while the IRS, which he oversees, was on the other. Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida said in her ruling on Monday that she was “extremely troubled” by Blanche’s behavior. It was so egregious that she referred his actions to judicial officials in New York state for potential disciplinary action, including disbarment.

The scheme was one of many ways that Blanche, who was previously Trump’s personal lawyer and now serves as acting attorney general, has placed the interests of his former client above those of the country. It is yet another reason that senators of both parties should reject the president’s demand that Blanche be confirmed to lead the Department of Justice.

Of all the powers Americans give their government, none can curtail personal liberty like those of the Department of Justice, and this editorial board has listed the ways Blanche has abused that authority. He has celebrated the Jan. 6 rioters. He has misled Congress under oath. He has said it is Trump’s “right,” and “indeed it is his duty,” to use the department to investigate people he “has had issues with.”

Most Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee nonetheless appear likely to vote for Blanche. Yet at least two — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — have already raised questions about the nomination. Cornyn and Tillis are in their final terms in office, partly because Trump considered them insufficiently subservient to him. They should have the decency, patriotism and self-respect to vote against Blanche.

To understand why Blanche poses such a threat to America’s system of justice, look at how sharply he and Trump have strayed from traditional restraints on the use of law enforcement powers.

Blanche’s relationship with the president stems from his role as a private lawyer. Over the past decade, Blanche first represented Trump allies such as Paul Manafort before joining the team that defended Trump over his hush-money payments to actress Stormy Daniels. After Trump won the election in 2024, he chose Blanche to be deputy attorney general.

Ethical guidelines exist to prevent government lawyers who previously were in private practice from using their offices to aid their former clients rather than their current one, the people of the United States. In Williams’ suggestion that Blanche be a candidate for punishment, she cited these conflict-of-interest guidelines.

He has brazenly defied them at the Justice Department over the past year and a half. He has presided over the frivolous indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and the investigations of former CIA Director John Brennan and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, all perceived enemies of the president. The cases have gained no traction in the courts.

Blanche has also mounted an onslaught against the news media, attempting to undermine the First Amendment. Under his watch, the FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter and issued multiple subpoenas against news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal. Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel, who works for Blanche, went to the White House to oversee an investigation that led to the subpoenaing of five New York Times reporters who broke the news that Trump’s new version of Air Force One had security flaws.

These acts represent an appalling politicization of law enforcement. Blanche has helped Trump violate decades of bipartisan tradition and use the Justice Department as an instrument of personal power.

If Blanche is confirmed, the problems are likely to worsen. Trump has repeatedly indicated an interest in interfering with this year’s midterm elections. He continues to lie about his 2020 defeat, and his administration, including Blanche, has investigated election officials who have done nothing wrong. There is every reason to worry that Blanche might use the powers of the Justice Department to intimidate voters or interfere with ballot counting this fall.

Congressional Republicans have shown that they can exert influence over Trump. It often takes only a modest number of them. Working with Democrats, Republicans ended Matt Gaetz’s effort to become attorney general after the 2024 election. They forced Trump’s Justice Department last year to release the Epstein files. They forced Trump and Blanche to retreat, at least for now, from their planned $1.8 billion slush fund that would have benefited Jan. 6 rioters.

This week, Republicans, starting with Cornyn and Tillis, have an opportunity to prevent Blanche from doing further damage. Americans can be grateful that the Constitution still provides robust protections of personal liberty, but its words mean little if members of Congress do not stand up to dangerous presidential power grabs.