Joseph Bianco, left, and fellow nominee Michael Park, right, testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee during their confirmation hearing to be U.S. circuit judges for the Second Circuit on Feb. 13. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday morning, voting largely along partisan lines, confirmed Joseph Bianco, a federal district judge in the Eastern District of New York, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Bianco's confirmation came over the objection of both of his home-state senators, U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York.

Yet it was Bianco's co-nominee, Michael Park, a name partner in Consovoy McCarthy Park, who drew fire from Schumer, the state's senior senator and leader of Senate Democrats. Schumer in a floor speech accused President Donald Trump of elevating, in Park, an unqualified ideologue to the Second Circuit.

Bianco was confirmed on a 54-42 vote as the Senate elevated the second Trump nominee to the circuit court that covers New York state, Connecticut and Vermont. Bianco's confirmation follows the October 2018 elevation of Richard Sullivan, himself a former district judge on the Southern District of New York bench.

Bianco was nominated to the federal bench in Brooklyn by President George W. Bush in 2006, after serving as deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the previous two years under Attorney General John Ashcroft.

A Queens native, Bianco graduated from Columbia Law School in 1991. After working as an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Bianco joined the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1994. He remained with the office under U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White for nearly a decade, rising to become chief of the office's organized crime and terrorism unit in the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In 2003, he departed SDNY for a brief stint as counsel with Debevoise & Plimpton.

During comments on the floor before the vote Wednesday, Schumer made no mention of the impending vote for Bianco, or about the candidate himself.

He did, however, take aim at Park, who was nominated by Trump alongside Bianco in October 2018. Park has drawn numerous objections from Senate Democrats over what they see as his controversial conservative views.

On Wednesday, Schumer said he had met with Park as part of the confirmation process and found him wanting.

“Frankly, his principle qualification seems to be that he's a card-carrying member of the Federalist Society,” Schumer said, referring to the conservative legal group of which Park is a member.

Schumer went on to say he believes Park had too little experience and judicial background to warrant a placement on one of the most active federal appellate benches in the nation.

“He's an ideologue. He doesn't have the kind of balance and integrity and compassion and understanding of both sides that any judge needs,” Schumer said. “It will be obvious to anyone who reviews his record that he lacks the breadth and objectivity that we prize in our judges.”

Park's track record working on conservative causes—from defending Kansas' state government's move to defund Planned Parenthood to legal battles opposing affirmative action in college admissions—have dismayed liberals like Schumer since his nomination, while clearly working in his favor as a nominee.

Trump has a connection to Park that transcends the lawyer's federal judicial nomination.

Consovoy McCarthy Park has become a go-to firm for many Trump's legal issues. The firm currently represents the president personally in his battle over emoluments playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. More recently, they've been tapped to lead the Trump family's efforts in the Southern District of New York to stop Deutsche Bank and Capital One from producing financial documents following subpoenas by Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Schumer argued these kind of ties should disqualify Park from consideration for a seat on the Second Circuit.

“Federalist stooges like Mr. Park, who aren't qualified for a district court, are being rammed through as circuit court judges,” Schumer said.

A cloture vote on Park's nomination was expected to take place later Wednesday, with the floor vote on his nomination to follow later in the week.

Related:

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