The Senate on Tuesday confirmed James Cole as Deputy Attorney General, after Republicans agreed to end their block on the vote and and allowed the nomination to come to the floor.
In approving Cole, the Senate fills a job last held by a Senate-confirmed appointee in February 2010. The Senate also confirmed Virginia Seitz for Office of Legal Counsel Assistant Attorney General, a post filled by temporary appointees since 2004. The Senate also endorsed the nomination of Lisa Monaco for National Security Division Assistant Attorney General, a job last occupied by a Senate-confirmed appointee in March.
The Senate confirmed Cole by a 55-42 vote, mostly along party lines. Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Richard Lugar of Indiana were the only Republicans to vote in favor of his confirmation. Seitz and Monaco were confirmed by voice vote.
“I am pleased the Senate moved to confirm Jim, Lisa and Virginia, following their appointments by President Obama,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “I’m confident they will provide invaluable leadership to the department, and will play a critical role in protecting the American people, ensuring the fairness and integrity of our financial markets and restoring the traditional missions of the department.”
The votes came after Senate leaders last week reached a deal that let the nominees come to the Senate floor and be voted upon.
Senate leaders reached the agreement after hammering out numerous issues with the DOJ, including concerns Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, had about his ability to effectively probe Operation Fast and Furious, a controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun smuggling program.
Grassley had expressed irritation that the DOJ didn’t send him the records and documents it sent to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) about the program, which allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in an effort to track them. The DOJ had told Grassley that it would not provide the senator with access to documents that were made available to the House Oversight Committee because federal agencies generally only respond to committee chairmen and Grassely isn’t one.
But Attorney General Eric Holder now has said the Department will give the senator the same access to information, witnesses and documents that is provided to Issa and the DOJ Inspector General, which also is probing the program. In return, Republican senators dropped their holds on the nominees.
Democrats pushed hard for a final vote on Cole, whom Obama first nominated for the No. 2 post at the DOJ in May 2010.
In December, Democrats tried to bring Cole up for a vote before the Senate adjourned sine die. But Republican opposition forced the chamber to return his nomination to the White House.
The president in January put Cole in office through a recess appointment. Obama also renominated him in January, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved him along a party-line vote in March.
In May, the Senate tried to end debate on Cole’s nomination. But the cloture motion didn’t reach the 60-senator threshold needed to proceed to an up-or-down vote on the nominee at the time.
Republicans expressed worries about a 2002 article he wrote backing civilian trials for terrorism suspects and his stint as an independent monitor for insurance giant AIG, which the Federal Reserve bailed out during the 2008 financial industry crisis.
Cole also was the House ethics committee special counsel who probed then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in the 1990s for the mishandling of tax-exempt organizations for political purposes. The House gave Gingrich a rare formal reprimand and ordered him to pay a $300,000 penalty.
The last nominated, Senate-confirmed Deputy Attorney General was David Ogden, who stepped down in February 2010. Gary Grindler served as acting Deputy Attorney General after Ogden’s resignation. Grindler is now the Chief of Staff to Attorney General Eric Holder.
Cole, a former DOJ Criminal Division official, was a partner at the law firm of Bryan Cave LLP in D.C. prior to his recess appointment.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) blasted Republicans for having blocked Cole’s nomination. “The unprecedented filibuster of the nomination of the Deputy Attorney General has been especially egregious,” he said, in a statement. “Despite significant bipartisan support and unquestionable qualifications, Jim Cole’s nomination has been blocked for nearly a year. He was reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July last year, but Republicans prevented a vote. He was renominated and reported favorably a second time in the middle of March, but Republicans stalled and then filibustered consideration of the nomination last month. That was the first time in the Nation’s history that a President’s nominee to serve as Deputy Attorney General was filibustered—and it was wrong.
