Thomas working behind the scenes to boost court nominee
By Ann E. Marimow and
Seung Min Kim February 28 at 4:35 PM
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is working behind the scenes to boost the prospects of Neomi Rao, one of his former law clerks, to serve on a powerful federal appeals court in Washington — speaking privately with at least two Republican senators as she faces a contentious confirmation fight.
Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) who publicly questioned how Rao would rule on issues such as abortion before supporting her in a key vote Thursday, disclosed this week that he had called Thomas ...
Rao spent 10 years in academia before joining the Trump administration in 2017 as the White House’s regulatory affairs administrator.
The resistance to Trump’s nominee from members of the president’s own party prompted swift pushback this week and anger from conservative circles. The GOP establishment has celebrated the president’s success in installing a record number of appeals court judges nationwide in his first two years in office ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trumps-court-nominee-overcomes-gop-concerns-secures-panels-backing/2019/02/28/fa33bc86-3adc-11e9-aaae-69364b2ed137_story.html?utm_term=.47f0fcac7e08