BREAKING: Kyrsten Sinema's Final Deal (For Now)?; Biden's Last Confirmed Judge May Be Arizona's New Judge Desai

The last Biden judicial pick to get approved for the U.S. District Court bench may well be Arizona's Sharad Desai, we learned today. During a brief, sometimes-testy meeting today, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Desai to the full Senate, and there is reason to think that outgoing Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema is the reason.

Before that vote, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis blasted the Biden Administration and warned his Democratic colleagues on the committee to not vote for the White House's pick for the 4th Circuit. He warned payback in the coming session, when Trump begins nominating judges that Democrats do not like. Ryan Park then passed out of the committee on an 11-10 party line vote.

Desai was then the only District Court nominee (of seven) to get a committee vote. Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced it as a voice vote, and only one Republican sounded a "nay". But, then, seven of the committee's ten Republicans went on the record as opposing Desai.

The Tillis tirade included a claim that he was certain that he has the votes to defeat 4th Circuit nominee Ryan Park on the floor. That would require at least one member of the Democratic caucus to vote against him.

Tillis then was not one of the Republicans voting against Desai, leading one longtime Judiciary Committee watcher to hypothesize that Sinema is a key Democratic vote against Park. (Sinema and Tillis have worked together on other measures, too.)

(We were unable to reach Senator Sinema for comment. We will update this article as warranted.)

The Senate typically brings the nominees to the floor in roughly the order they are presented by the Judiciary Committee. Which means that Arizona's Desai may be the final District Court Judge to get a vote in the next few weeks.

Desai would come to the bench from Honeywell, where he is a VP/General Counsel. Mr. Desai was recommended to the White House by both Sinema and Sen. Mark Kelly. His sister, Roopali Desai, is a 9th Circuit judge; she was also nominated by Biden. 

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. 

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