Perhaps one day we will learn why former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow a vote on President Trump’s nomination of Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed to a vacant seat on Connecticut’s federal court. Her nomination was returned by the Senate to the White House January 3, 2021 — 449 days after her nomination — when the 116th Congress adjourned without voting on it.

The failure to schedule a vote wasn’t for any of the usual reasons a senator might choose not to support a nominee. It wasn’t that she was inexperienced. Judge Jongbloed has been a respected member of the Superior Court bench for 20 years. Before that she was an Assistant United States Attorney. It wasn’t a result of skepticism among lawyers. The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary unanimously rated her well qualified. It wasn’t due to division on the Judiciary Committee, as if that would have mattered. The Judiciary Committee reported her nomination favorably more than one year ago. It wasn’t for any ideological concerns. Anyone would be hard-pressed to identify Judge Jongbloed as anything other than a thoughtful, sensible, and moderate jurist.

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