One of President Bidenās judicial nominees is seeing his past actions come back to haunt him, as a sick incident from earlier in his career was brought up during his confirmation hearing.
On Wednesday, Michael Delaney, who was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the First Circuit, was grilled by Senate Republicans at his confirmation hearing. The senators probed for details regarding how a prestigious New Hampshire private school Delaney represented dealt with a Sexual Assault case in 2015.
The case in question revolved around 15-year-old Chessy Prout, who was raped by a male student at St. Paulās School. Delaney represented the school in the civil case that followed and, according to Bloomberg Law, he, on behalf of the school, made an effort to strip Prout of her anonymity during the proceedings.
Now, after his nomination to the appellate Court, Senate Republicans are grilling him for what, according to the Prout family, they said were Delaneyās intimidation tactics to shut up their daughter in order to protect the schoolās reputation.
GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee expressed absolute shock and horror that Delaney would be willing to defend the school, while refusing to ensure that the victimās right to anonymity was protected.
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āI was taken aback that you wouldāve thought a minor child who had been sexually assaulted did not deserve protection,ā she said. āI think it is chilling the message this sends to young women.ā She added that such action disqualified him from serving on the bench.
Her sentiments were echoed by Missouriās GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who said, āIām astounded that youāve been nominated ā¦ People who put Sexual Assault victims through this kind of torture ā shouldnāt sit on the bench.ā
Utah Sen. Mike Lee said that such a move was unprecedented in legal proceedings. āIām not aware of any courtroom in America ā¦ where the victim wouldnāt be allowed freely to choose to protect her anonymity.ā
But the most damming indictment of the judge came from Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who read word-for-word from the letter that Delaney composed requesting that Prout have her anonymity stripped.
Cruz also said that Prout was victimized on three separate occasions: first when she was raped, second when she was stripped of her anonymity and third when Delaney, the man who stripped her of her anonymity, was nominated by Biden.
Cruz then made a shocking statement: āThereās a reason why almost virtually every Democrat has skipped this hearing ā theyāre embarrassed about this nomination.ā
These revelations are absolutely horrifying and quite sickening. As a child victim, who was still a child at the time of the trial, Chessy Prout deserved to have her anonymity protected, but she had it stripped from her by a man more interested in defending the reputation of his elite clients, than in respecting the rights of a 15-year-old victim.
Blackburn, Hawley, Lee, and Cruz are right. There is absolutely no reason that Michael Delaney should even be having a confirmation hearing, let alone be allowed on the bench.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.