During a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told Trump judicial nominee Anna St. John that her evasive responses regarding the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack demonstrated a "lack of independence" that he found disqualifying.

St. John, currently a U.S. District Judge, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which handles federal appeals from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and is widely regarded as one of the most conservative federal appellate courts in the country. HuffPost Senior Politics Reporter Jennifer Bendery, reporting from inside the hearing, posted on X: "Right on time, another Trump court pick – Anna St. John, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit – will only say Biden was 'certified' president in 2020." (https://x.com/jbendery/status/2085045197042262373?s=20)

St. John's response reflects a pattern observed among numerous Trump nominees during confirmation proceedings. Democratic senators have made it a regular practice to ask nominees directly who won the 2020 presidential election and to characterize the events of January 6. Nominees have routinely declined to state that former President Joe Biden won the election, instead saying only that he was "certified" as the winner.

When pressed by Senator Blumenthal on whether the Capitol was attacked on January 6, 2021, St. John replied, "I want to be very careful with my language."

Bendery documented the exchange in a subsequent post on X: "'You are... continuing to adopt the president's distorted and inaccurate illusion' about J6 and the 2020 election, Blumenthal scolded St. John, who sat silently. 'It indicates a lack of independence,' he says. 'That lack of independence is disqualifying for you to be a judge.'" (https://x.com/jbendery/status/2085046251666407506?s=20)

Blumenthal noted that St. John already holds a lifetime appointment as a U.S. District Judge, telling her: "You have a lifetime appointment. Trump can't do anything to you. You have no reason to fear his vaunted vindictiveness against anyone who would defy his illusion about January 6." He then criticized what he described as her "rehearsed and regurgitated" responses. If confirmed to the 5th Circuit, St. John would receive another lifetime tenure on a court whose rulings frequently reach the U.S. Supreme Court on issues spanning immigration, voting rights, and executive authority.

The hearing follows a recent press event held by a group of former federal prosecutors who worked on cases related to the January 6 riot. The group urged senators to stop confirming nominees who decline to acknowledge established facts about the 2020 election and the Capitol attack.

"Please stop poisoning our courts by confirming appointees who refuse to admit basic historical truths," said former assistant U.S. attorney Sean Murphy. "This is not a problem of perspective or political persuasion. It is a fundamental question of competence."

Murphy is part of a group of 12 former prosecutors who sent a letter to senators warning about the confirmation of nominees who have declined to contradict claims about the 2020 election. The letter stated that the nominees' "refusal to contradict the President's lies… raises significant questions about whether, once confirmed, a nominee could act independently and free from political interference from the president that nominated them." The outcome of the Judiciary Committee's consideration will determine whether St. John's nomination advances to a vote before the full Senate.