Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reports Pamela Bondi nomination, 12-10

At a Senate Judiciary Committee markup, Chairman Chuck Grassley said the committee voted 12-10 to favorably report Pamela Joe Bondi’s nomination to serve as attorney general to the full Senate. The committee held an extended debate about Bondi’s record as Florida attorney general, her private-sector lobbying, and whether she would act independently of the White House if confirmed.

The vote came after opening remarks and more than five hours of prior testimony in a confirmation hearing. Committee Republicans emphasized Bondi’s experience as a prosecutor and as Florida’s attorney general, citing her work on human trafficking, opioid “pill mill” enforcement and consumer-protection litigation. “She spent 18 years serving as a prosecutor,” Chairman Grassley said, and witnesses who appeared at the hearing, he said, described her as “willing to tackle and to solve some of the hardest problems facing our nation.”

Senate Democrats pressed sharply on whether Bondi would resist unlawful or politically motivated orders from the White House, repeatedly citing actions taken in the first days of the new administration — including mass pardons for January 6 defendants, the removal or reassignment of career Department of Justice officials, and an OMB directive to pause certain appropriated funds. “If you want to know the role of the Department of Justice under President Trump, just listen to his words,” Senator Dick Durbin said, quoting the president’s statement, “I have the absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.”

Several Democratic members said Bondi refused to answer direct questions in the hearing about whether she would refuse an illegal order or resign if instructed to carry out unlawful directives. “How hard is it to say that you would refuse an illegal order?” Senator Amy Klobuchar asked after describing efforts in private and public questioning to get Bondi to commit. Multiple Democrats said Bondi would not state plainly that President Trump lost the 2020 election and criticized her public comments on that subject.

Republican members, and a new senator from Florida who spoke in support, stressed Bondi’s prosecutorial record and bipartisan work with other state attorneys general. Senator Ashley Moody said Bondi “never compromised her integrity, prosecutorial independence, or fidelity to the rule of law,” and highlighted Bondi’s work on untested sexual-assault evidence kits, opioid enforcement and large consumer recoveries.

Democratic senators pointed to Bondi’s previous lobbying work for corporations including Amazon, Uber and the GEO Group, and to foreign clients; they said she disclosed her clients but expressed concern that she would not commit to specific recusals beyond consulting DOJ ethics officials. Democrats also cited news reports and actions they described as immediate signs that the Justice Department was being politicized, including the appointment of an interim U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia who previously supported efforts to challenge the 2020 election.

The committee’s roll call concluded with the clerk announcing the tally. The committee’s favorable report (12 yes, 10 no) sends the nomination to the full Senate for consideration.

Votes at a glance: The committee favorably reported the nomination of Pamela Joe Bondi to be attorney general, 12-10. The clerk announced the final tally during the markup; the transcript records the committee’s result and the chairman’s announcement that the nomination would be favorably reported.