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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and more than 20 other state attorneys general are throwing their support behind embattled U.S. Attorney nominee Ed Martin and urging Senate leaders to do the same, even as one key Republican senator has indicated he won’t support the Trump loyalist’s nomination.
Rokita and 22 other Republican attorneys general signed a May 5 letter in support of President Donald Trump’s nomination of Martin to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, attempting to counter those who oppose the nominee because of his involvement in the “Stop the Steal” movement.
In a letter sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, the attorneys general stressed the importance of Martin’s nomination for advancing Trump’s goal of making D.C. “safe and beautiful again.”
The letter calls on the Senate leaders to confirm Martin without delay.
“I am proud to lead this effort to support Ed Martin because he’s a proven leader who is already devoting all of his time to restoring the rule of law in our nation’s capital,” Rokita said in a news release. “His bold actions have had an immediate impact, which sent the disreputable D.C. news media into a full-blown meltdown–the Senate must act swiftly to confirm him and ensure his critical work continues uninterrupted.”
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor, said it had been rare for such a large number of state attorneys general to attach their names to a letter supporting a U.S. Attorney nominee, regardless of who it was or what kind of attention the nomination had attracted.
“Unfortunately, however, the GOP and some Democratic AGs have become increasingly partisan and they seem to band together by party to litigate under the banner of their respective national AG associations over a broad spectrum of legal issues, as mundane as rules of tort, property and contract doctrinal law, to highly controversial ‘culture war’ issues, such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, religious freedom, and a host of other issues,” Tobias told The Indiana Lawyer in an email.
Tobias said he had not previously seen a letter like the one released by Rokita but acknowledged that he had not tracked very closely the U.S. Attorney nomination and confirmation processes because, for the most part, they had not been very controversial.
As an example, Tobias noted that Democrats helped confirm on bipartisan votes 84 of 86 Trump’s first-term U.S. Attorney nominees.
But Martin’s nomination has gained much media attention because of his past support for the nearly 400 Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendants charged with assaulting police officers.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, told reporters Tuesday that he had met with Martin on Monday evening and was opposing his nomination because of his defense of the Jan. 6 rioters, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is the country’s largest and prosecuted more than 1,500 riot defendants after the 2021 attack. Trump pardoned most of the rioters the day he was inaugurated, and he later appointed Martin to temporarily lead the office.
The Associated Press reported that the appointment expires later this month, and Trump has urged Republican senators to quickly confirm Martin to the job.
Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing Martin’s nomination.
The panel has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning if all other members aside from Tillis voted along party lines, the vote on Martin would end in a tie and his nomination would not be reported favorably to the full Senate, according to NBC.
Tobias said all 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter calling for a rare hearing on Martin, because of many concerns about his competence to serve in such a crucial role and his loyalty to Trump, rather than the U.S. Constitution.
Rokita’s letter highlights what he describes as Martin’s success bringing public order back to D.C. while serving as interim U.S. Attorney since Jan. 20.
He said that, since being appointed by Trump, Martin has achieved a 25% reduction in violent crime and “intensified prosecutions for firearm trafficking, drug distribution, and violent offenses.”
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