On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to consider two Biden administration judicial nominees, but also to consider Chairman Dick Durbin's request for subpoenas of Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo as part of their 'ethics investigation' into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. We won't delve into the details of that investigation, but it is fueled by left-wing dark money and seeks to punish Thomas for matters that are not, in fact, ethics violations. More broadly, it attacks the independent nature of the Judiciary Branch itself.
Needless to say, the Republicans in the committee were having none of this. Ranking member Lindsey Graham started the responses to Durbin's request by promising many amendments that would make these two subpoenas untenable for the committee.
But it was Sen. Marcha Blackburn who stole the show with her list of subpoenas that she was filing to add to the subpoenas Durbin requested. Watch:
Blackburn's subpoena amendments were like kryptonite to Democrats. They included:
But one subpoena she filed grabbed everyone's attention: a subpoena to the estate of Jeffrey Epstein to obtain his flight logs.
And boy, did that get people to sit up straight and take notice.
Of course, in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, some of those flight logs were already released, but only up to 2013. Blackburn's subpoena was for all of the flight logs.
'Given the numerous allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein,' Blackburn said, 'I think it is very important that we identify everybody that was on that plane, and how many trips they took on that plane, and the destinations to which they arrived.'
Of course, not everyone on Twitter/X was all that optimistic.
Still others shared their concerns for Blackburn herself.
Of course, Blackburn alone can't just issue those subpoenas, they have to be issued by the committee. But Durbin can't issue them without Republicans' consent either. It is good to see that some of those Republicans realize that they still have a considerable degree of power, and these subpoenas are one of their weapons. Democrats cannot pursue Durbin's subpoenas without also considering Blackburn's and all of the other 88 amendments that Republicans filed.
Shockingly -- yet conveniently -- Durbin gaveled the hearing to a close without considering any of the subpoenas, including his own. He promised to consider them again at an unspecified 'future date.'
No matter what happens, it's good to see Blackburn playing hardball and putting Durbin between a rock and a hard place on his Clarence Thomas obsession.
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