Ed Pagano Quoted in Law360 on Gorsuch Nomination Fight
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Akin Gump public law and policy partner Ed Pagano has been quoted in the Law360 story “Outside Groups Aim For Red State Dems In Gorsuch Fight,” regarding President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for a seat on the Supreme Court. The article reports that outside political groups have begun multimillion-dollar advocacy campaigns focused on 10 Democratic senators who are up for re-election in 2018 in states won last year by Mr. Trump.
The actions by those groups, Pagano said, are part of “a long history in judicial wars.” Pagano was a Senate liaison for former President Barack Obama, who also worked with the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added, “There is a history here, and it feels like the die is cast and it is going to be a partisan process.”
Pagano, who helped lead the nominations of Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor while serving as Senate liaison, told Law360 that outside advocacy groups will be front and center as partisan divides persist over the treatment of Judge Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick for the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
“A Supreme Court nomination and confirmation vote is the rare occasion that interest groups from the left, right and center will be focused and active together,” Pagano said.