Sen. Tom Cotton is so consumed with joining the blockade of President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court that he — or his staff — got a little foggy on another piece of judicial obstructionism.
Roll Call reports on a letter to Cotton by Washington lawyer Louis Weiner, who urged Cotton to stop blocking votes on five nominees to vacancies the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Cotton has been holding up those slots for more than 20 months now. Weiner’s letter said clearly it was about the court of claims. But, says Roll Call:
Cotton replied in error, “Thank you for contacting me about President Obama’s Supreme Court Justice nomination. It’s good to hear from you as always.”
…At the end of the letter, Cotton concludes: “I am truly honored to serve as your senator; please know that your interests and affairs have my unceasing attention.”
Cotton took time to explain his resistance to Garland.
Weiner should be happy, garbled response or not. None of several other senators he wrote about the court of claims responded at all.
Cotton has suggested all those claims court judges aren’t needed — a point on which there is bipartisan disagreement. Others have suggested politics are at work in behalf of some former colleagues of Cotton.