Ahead Of Confirmation Vote, Durbin Speaks Out Against Kara Westercamp’s Nomination To Lifetime Position On The Court Of International Trade Over Inflammatory Social Media Posts

WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, denounced the nomination of Kara Westercamp to a lifetime appointment on the Court of International Trade (CIT). Ms. Westercamp’s now-deleted social media posts questioned the outcome of the 2020 election; whitewashed the January 6 attack on the Capitol; attacked Chief Justice Roberts for not being sufficiently conservative; and crudely attacked Republican Senators, including Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and the late-Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

During his remarks, Durbin questioned if she has the temperament to be confirmed. Notably, the Senate voted to proceed with her nomination immediately following Senator Lindsey Graham’s passing and while Senator McConnell is still in the hospital.

“As is the case with many of President Trump’s judicial nominees in his second term, his pick to fill a vacancy on [CIT], Kara Westercamp, was tapped because of her loyalty to the man who nominated her, instead of her loyalty to the law. Her offensive, inflammatory, juvenile social media posts demonstrate she lacks the independence, maturity, and temperament to be a judge,” Durbin said.

Durbin continued, “Ms. Westercamp tried to delete her old tweets so we wouldn’t see them on the [Senate Judiciary] Committee but she failed. My staff was able to recover them. In these tweets, Ms. Westercamp spread conspiracy theories about the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol and attacked Republicans and Democrats alike for being insufficiently loyal to President Trump. She elevated claims that the January 6 attack was ‘orchestrated by members of the Senate, and members of the [Capitol] police’… Ms. Westercamp dismissed this event [the January 6 attack on the Capitol] entirely, retweeting a post that read ‘we’re all supposed to be sending Thoughts & Prayers to traumatized Members of Congress whose workday was interrupted for a couple hours.’”

During his remarks, Durbin highlighted Ms. Westercamp’s inflammatory, overtly political posts that appeared to be made while she was on duty as an attorney at the Department of Justice, which would violate federal law. He noted that Ms. Westercamp has repeatedly attacked Senator McConnell for supposedly “betraying” President Trump. She even called Senator McConnell “a modern-day Benedict Arnold” and repeatedly called him “Cocaine Mitch,” a defamatory nickname used by MAGA critics of Senator McConnell.

Durbin said, “Of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, she wrote that he was ‘true to NO ONE but [his] own self-preservation’ and crudely called him a name I can’t repeat in the record... Ms. Westercamp accused Senator Collins of prioritizing her ‘own personal political power’ over loyalty to President Trump and called for her removal as well as the removal of Senators Murkowski and Cassidy following the vote on [President Trump’s] second impeachment. Ms. Westercamp even posted a sexually explicit image and joke about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—a post that Ms. Westercamp herself described as ‘not safe for work.’”

Durbin said, “Last week, Leader Thune filed cloture so we can move more quickly on Ms. Westercamp’s nomination… despite her disrespectful and inflammatory comments. It is a disgrace that Senate Republicans are moving forward on this nomination while Senator McConnell is still in the hospital and so soon after Senator Graham’s passing.”

Durbin concluded, “Judges are chosen for their judgment, for character, for maturity, for competence, for independence, and most especially for their temperament. Ms. Westercamp does not meet that standard. I urge my colleagues to oppose her nomination.”

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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