Sen. Al Franken lobbed the charge at a hearing for Amy Coney Barrett, Mr. Trump’s pick to fill a seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s nominee to the 6th Circuit, Michigan Supreme CourtJustice Joan Larsen, faced questions over a conservative advocacy group Judicial Crisis Network, which ran ads to pressure her home state senators — both Democrats — to back her confirmation.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat, said he worried about who was contributing to fund the ads.
“I look out at a very significant machinery of influence that is designed — that has at its purpose — to bring the will of ideological and commercial interest into our courts,” he said.