Courier-Journal: Judge asks for investigation of McConnell's role in creating vacancy for his protege
By ANDREW WOLFSON
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bid to stack the federal judiciary with conservative judges – including one of his proteges – has run into a hitch.
The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, often called the nation’s second most important court – has asked for an investigation of whether a judge on that court retired at McConnell’s request to allow the appointment of Judge Justin Walker of Louisville.
A liberal activist group says in a complaint that Judge Thomas Griffith, who agreed in March to step down, may have engaged in improper “partisan political activity” if he coordinated with McConnell to assure his successor would be chosen while Republicans still control the White House and the Senate.