Party-line committee vote sends Pam Bondi to full Senate for confirmation as attorney general

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Pam Bondi’s nomination for attorney general in a party-line 12-10 vote Wednesday.

Despite stiff opposition from Democrats, Ms. Bondi is on a glide path to confirmation by the GOP-run Senate. Her confirmation could go to a vote as early as next week.

Democrats’ chief beef with the former Florida attorney general is her loyalty to Mr. Trump. They fear Ms. Bondi will use the Justice Department to punish Mr. Trump’s political enemies and turn a blind eye to illegal moves by the president.

At her confirmation hearing, Ms. Bondi said that just the opposite was true.

“The partisanship, the weaponization will be gone,” she said. “America will have one tier of justice for all.”

Conservatives for years have accused the Justice Department and FBI of politicized investigations against Mr. Trump and his allies. Mr. Trump has vowed to root out the partisan leadership at the DOJ and tapped Ms. Bondi to lead the charge.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley praised Ms. Bondi before the vote Tuesday.

“Her record shows that she’s willing to tackle and to solve some of the hardest problems facing our nation. … She led the fight against opioid pill mills, protected consumers and sought justice for victims of violent criminals. Her record and her testimony showed the American people that she will follow through and enforce the law fairly, without fear or favor,” said Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican.

President Trump chose Ms. Bondi to lead the department in late November after his first choice for the job, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, withdrew from consideration amid solid bipartisan opposition.

Mr. Trump said Ms. Bondi, who worked on his 2020 campaign, would “refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

“Pam and I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” he wrote on social media.

Democrats warn that Ms. Bondi and Mr. Trump’s nominee for FBI ​director​, Kash Patel, who is expected to testify before the committee on Thursday, will be little more than henchmen for Mr. Trump.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the top Democrat on the panel, gave voice Tuesday to his party’s objections to Ms. Bondi.

“It is absolutely critical that any nominee for the position be committed first and foremost, to the Constitution and the American people, not the president and his political agenda,” he said.

Ms. Bondi was first elected Florida attorney general in 2010. In that post, she led a challenge brought by over two dozen states to President Obama’s health care overhaul. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Obama administration.

She also fought to uphold Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage, arguing that marriage should be defined by each state.

During Mr. Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, Ms. Bondi served as one of his many advocates on the campaign trail and was sent to Pennsylvania to investigate the ballot count following the election that year.

There is little Democrats can do to stop either nomination, as Ms. Bondi has the full support of the Republican conference, which controls the chamber 53-47, and Mr. Patel currently has the support of Republican lawmakers going into his hearing.