MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A federal justice system entangled with politics has spilled into the Vermont Statehouse over nominees for the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Phil Scott selected Christina Nolan and Michael Drescher for lifetime appointments to Vermont’s high court. Drescher’s nomination has hit a speed bump as he faces criticism for pushing the deportation of two college students during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Friday, Drescher, who is currently serving as acting U.S. attorney, faced questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his role in steering high-profile civil immigration cases against Mohsen Madawi and Rumesya Ozturk.
Some lawmakers are uneasy about any involvement with Trump immigration policies.
“Any involvement with the current Trump policies on immigration is the end of the road is what I’m getting from constituents,” said Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham County.
Drescher has served 25 years in the federal prosecutor’s office, litigating against opioid manufacturers, child sex abusers and violent criminals. He said he was caught between a rock and a hard place on the Trump administration cases.
“Resigning would have accomplished nothing. It would have saddled someone else with this situation I was trying to avoid for them, or it would have caused the administration to send someone from outside of Vermont to handle the cases,” Drescher said.
Some senators questioned the optics of Drescher appearing alongside U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at a press conference and whether that was a tacit endorsement of Trump immigration policies.
“By attending that press conference and by speaking in support, that in some way legitimizes those claims,” said Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P-Chittenden County.
Several former federal prosecutors went to bat for Drescher, touting his commitment to empathy, fairness and justice. Vermont’s former Biden-appointed U.S. attorney supports Drescher.
Owen Foster, the state’s health care regulator who worked with Drescher in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said there’s a misconception about Drescher’s career and how enforcing federal law works.
“We have a really talented apolitical career public servant who’s worked across many administrations with no politics, and now he’s being attacked for politics, which he never had,” Foster said.
Drescher will have to be approved by the full Senate.
This isn’t the first fight over a governor’s confirmation. There was a bitter battle in the Senate two years ago over the appointment of Education Secretary Zoie Saunders.
