Todd Blanche was scheduled to be sworn in as attorney general at the White House on Monday afternoon, formalizing his leadership of a Justice Department he has already run in an acting capacity since April.
The Senate confirmed him 50-49 in a vote that concluded at 4:31 a.m. Saturday, hours before the chamber began a five-week recess, Yahoo News reported. Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined every Democrat in opposition, CBS News reported. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was absent.
The nomination cleared its final obstacle Friday when Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana announced his support. With two Republican defections and McConnell away, his vote was decisive.
Blanche, 52, left a Wall Street law firm in 2023 to join the president's legal team. He helped lead the defense in the New York hush money case that ended in a conviction on 34 felony counts, and in the dismissed federal case over classified documents. He was later confirmed as deputy attorney general and became acting attorney general in April after Pam Bondi was removed.
Collins said she opposed the nomination because of actions she described as eroding the department's independence. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called the confirmation a serious mistake, according to the Associated Press.
Cassidy argued that Blanche's history as a defense lawyer could make him more effective at resisting improper demands, and said the vote was not a referendum on the president. Cassidy lost his primary this year to a challenger backed by the White House.
A group of 1,200 former Justice Department employees signed a letter earlier this month urging the Senate to reject the nomination.
The department faces an immediate decision on whether to prosecute Anthony Fauci following a Senate committee's contempt referral last week.