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A radical, leftist judge was just handed a lifetime appointment to the 11th Circuit, and Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. 

As RedState recently reported, Judge Embry Kidd’s nomination to the 11th Circuit was set to be voted on by the full Senate chamber Monday night. We’ll cut to the chase — Embry was approved by a vote of 49-45, but here’s the kicker: Five Republicans didn’t show up for the vote.

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The door was opened for Kidd’s nomination to be rejected by West Virginia’s outgoing senator, former Democrat Joe Manchin, who voted “no” on Kidd. All the GOP had to do was walk right through that door, and the good people of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia would be prevented from having to endure decades of Embry Kidd’s soft-on-crime judicial activism.

The Republicans who failed to show up for the vote were:

  • Sen. Mike Braun
  • Sen. Steve Daines
  • Sen. Bill Hagerty
  • Sen. Marco Rubio
  • Sen. JD Vance

It is particularly baffling that Rubio, who was recently nominated to be Donald Trump’s secretary of state, would fail to show up for a vote that could have a lasting impact on the residents of Florida. Judge Kidd is only forty-one, just a year older than JD Vance, and thus could serve on the 11th Circuit, or higher, for many decades to come.

Florida’s governor took notice of the same.

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Now, the leftist judge will have a lifetime appointment and the people of FL, AL and GA will suffer the consequences.

And it’s not like there wasn’t ample reason for Republican senators to show up and vote against Kidd:

Republicans, though currently in the minority, have successfully stalled the vote on Judge Kidd for some months over concerns about his failure to disclose that two of his rulings had been reversed; both cases involved predatory sexual behavior against children. It is required of judicial nominees to submit a completed questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee in order for the members to properly vet the candidates, something Embry Kidd conveniently failed to do.

If Republicans don’t have the hunger and commitment to kick this lame-duck senatorial session to the curb by stopping Joe Biden’s radical judicial appointments from being confirmed, well, that hardly speaks well of their tenacity to boldly enact meaningful change once they take control of the chamber in January. 

The second Trump administration could start right now, but the GOP has got to be there in person to show who’s in charge. Sen. Manchin has indicated he won’t vote for any Biden judicial nominees who don’t have the GOP’s approval, so it’s hard to imagine a more perfect opportunity being handed to Republicans to stop the kind of leftist judicial activism they have railed against for years.

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Yes, Sens. Rubio and Vance are surely distracted by their looming promotions, but Mar-a-Lago can wait. The fight right now is on the floor of the Senate. 

RedState has reached out to the offices of Sens. Braun, Daines, Hagerty, Rubio and Vance for comment.