Colorado Politics reports that Colorado’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, will not support President Donald Trump’s nomination of U.S. District Court Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Domenico, already appointed by Trump to the federal trial bench in 2019, is up for a much bigger seat now. The 10th Circuit issues binding federal law for Colorado and five neighboring states, which means this is not some ceremonial robe-and-gavel photo op. This is serious judicial horsepower.
Bennet and Hickenlooper say their opposition is based on Domenico’s record, his immigration rulings, and his refusal during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump. Fair enough. Those are stated objections. Now comes the part where objections need to be measured against qualifications, not just rolled around in resistance glitter.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Trump nominated Chief Judge Daniel D. Domenico to fill a Colorado vacancy on the 10th Circuit, the Denver-based federal appeals court covering Colorado and five neighboring states. Translation: this bench matters. It is not a county fair pie contest.
- Hickenlooper’s office said Domenico should not be confirmed because of his record, his committee answers, his refusal to say who won the 2020 election, and his immigration rulings. That is the official case. Whether it is a legal argument or a campaign email wearing a necktie is the question.
- Bennet, who voted to confirm Domenico to the district court in 2019, now says seven years of rulings have raised concerns. His biggest cited issue is Domenico’s decision siding with the government’s authority to detain individuals in immigration custody without a bond hearing, which Bennet says put him at odds with every other federal district judge and magistrate judge in Colorado.
- The article notes both senators are facing Democratic primary challenges, with Hickenlooper running for reelection and Bennet pursuing the Democratic nomination for governor. Completely unrelated, of course. Political timing is always pure as mountain snow until you notice the boot prints.
- Domenico also has endorsements from former Republican Attorney General John Suthers, former Republican Gov. Bill Owens, former Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, former clerks, attorneys, former solicitors general, and a former 10th Circuit judge. Progressive groups oppose him. So yes, the usual Colorado legal food fight has arrived, but with nicer stationery.
My Bottom Line
This is a Colorado judiciary fight dressed up in senatorial dignity. Bennet and Hickenlooper are free to oppose Domenico. That is part of advice and consent. But advice and consent is supposed to be a constitutional function, not a donor-class stage production where every Republican nominee gets treated like a radioactive lab sample in a MAGA hat.
If Domenico is unqualified, prove it. If his legal reasoning is defective, show the work. Bennet at least points to a specific immigration ruling and says appellate power is different from district court power. That is a real argument, whether you agree with it or not. Hickenlooper’s statement is broader, leaning on the 2020 answer and immigration rulings without much detail in the article. That may satisfy the activist yard signs, but it is thin gruel for a lifetime appointment fight.
The 10th Circuit is powerful, consequential, and close to home. Colorado should want judges with discipline, temperament, constitutional fidelity, and enough backbone to apply the law when the political class starts hyperventilating into a microphone. That standard applies to Trump nominees. It also applies to Democratic senators pretending politics never entered the room while it is sitting at the head table eating the shrimp.
Nobody needs to slobber over Trump or Domenico here. The Constitution does not require a fan club. But if the real sin is that Domenico came with orange letterhead, Bennet and Hickenlooper should just say so and spare us the civics pageant. Courts should be above politics. We keep hearing that from the same people who then sprint to make every nomination a branding exercise.
Source: Colorado Politics
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