President Joe Biden's nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has drawn criticism for comments he has made about the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College.
Dale Ho has spent the past 15 years litigating voting rights cases in state and federal courts, racking up both victories and defeats in the process and has spawned significant controversy in his Senate hearings. The Hill reports that his nomination by the Biden Administration has drawn both fervent support and opposition.
A number of Senate Republicans voiced their concerns about his fitness to serve on a federal court. Specifically, they pointed out a number of fiery tweets he made during the Trump presidency in which he criticized Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, and Tom Cotton.
“I very much regret the tone that I’ve taken on social media from time to time, particularly if it’s given anyone the impression that I wouldn’t be impartial,” Ho said during his recent confirmation hearing, according to The Hill.
Mike Lee of Utah highlighted one of Ho’s tweets where he criticized the Electoral College and mentioned “Senate malapportionment and extreme gerrymandering.”
Demand Justice, an organization that focuses on “court reform” and backed Biden’s 2020 presidential candidacy, supports Ho’s nomination. The group released a six-figure ad campaign calling for Ho’s confirmation.
Fox News reports that a 2018 video of Ho is the latest target of criticism by lawmakers opposed to his nomination. In the video, Ho can be heard referring to the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College as “anti-democratic.”
Ho is currently the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, where he supervises the ACLU’s litigation on voting matters across the country. During his time as director, he wrote an article about voting rights advocating for same-day registration. In the article, he also refers to the Electoral College as anti-majoritarian.
The Electoral College was established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S Senate was established in Article 1, Section III of the U.S. Constitution.
