The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee still has yet to vote on the nomination of former New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, leaving his appointment to the federal bench in a holding pattern.
Delaney’s nomination was the first item on the committee’s agenda Thursday morning, but his nomination, along with a handful of other names, were held over by Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, was not present at the hearing, as she is currently hospitalized with shingles. Democrats hold a slim 11-10 majority on the committee.
Delaney is the state’s former top prosecutor and was chief legal counsel to Gov. John Lynch. He was tapped by President Biden to serve on the appellate court as the representative for New Hampshire, with the support of New Hampshire’s two senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan. But Delaney faced sharp questioning during a hearing last month over his role in a high-profile sexual assault civil case against St. Paul’s School in Concord.
Delaney was an attorney in private practice at the time, and argued in a motion that the assault victim should not be granted anonymity if the case went to trial. The victim, Chessy Prout, did ultimately go public, and has since written a book about her experience and become an advocate for sexual assault survivors.
She and her family have been outspoken critics of Delaney’s nomination to the federal bench, including submitting a letterto the committee and publishing op-eds.
“Biden’s nomination as well as the nominee’s support from Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire show me and other survivors that they approve of what Delaney and St. Paul’s School put me and my family through, which is far from my initial impression of their values,” Prout wrote in an opinion piece published in the Boston Globe.
Owen Labrie, a former classmate of Prout’s at St. Paul’s School, was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to jail for assaulting Prout, who was 15 at the time of the incident.
In 2018, Prout’s family and St. Paul’s announced a settlement in the civil lawsuit.
It isn’t clear when the Senate Judiciary Committee may vote on Delaney’s nomination, or if he has the votes to advance out of committee.
In February, Delaney faced withering questioning from some Republicans during a hearing about his involvement in the St. Paul’s case. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, has also criticized Delaney’s nomination.
