Vote delayed for federal court appointee who Mitch McConnell calls 'committed Marxist'

June 18 (UPI) -- A lack of support for federal court trial judge appointee Mustafa Kasubhai forced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to postpone an affirmation vote Tuesday.

Kasubhai currently is a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court of Oregon and is the Biden administration's appointee as a federal trial judge in the same federal court.

Democrat Sens. Richard Durbin, Ill., John Fetterman, Pa., and Bob Menendez, N.J., were absent Tuesday, which deprived Schumer of the majority needed to confirm Kasubhai.

Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., also was absent and caucuses with Senate Democrats.

Senate Republicans uniformly oppose Kasubhai's appointment as a trial judge in the U.S. District Court of Oregon.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a press release Monday, called Kasubhai a "committed Marxist" and the "latest in the Biden administration's parade of unfit nominations for the federal bench."

Kasubhai places "radical ideology over rule of law," McConnell also said Monday.

"During his time as a magistrate judge, he said, 'We have to set aside conventional ideas of proof when we are dealing with the interpersonal work of equity, diversity and inclusion.'"

"He's heaped high praise on the disgraced racist prophet known for insisting that 'the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination'" and "'the only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination,'" McConnell said of Kasubhai.

The non-profit Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights supports Kasubhai's appointment to the federal trial bench.

"More than ever, our courts need judges like Mustafa Kasubhai: Judges who understand the responsibility to equity and fairness that comes with the lifetime job security of a federal judge," LCCHR policy counsel Kylee Reynolds said in a May 30 statement.

"His career has been steeped in defending and protecting the rights of working people," Reynolds said, "and his rulings as a magistrate judge have shown that he is a fair-minded jurist."

If confirmed by the Senate, Kasubhai would become the nation's first "Muslim Article III judge" and the "only Asian-American judge to ever serve a lifetime appointment in the state of Oregon," Reynolds said.

Republicans hold 49 seats in the Senate to 47 for Democrats, but four independent senators caucus with the Democratic Party, which gives Senate Democrats a two-seat majority.

Vice President Kamala Harris also can vote in the event of a tie, but at least two of the absent senators would have to vote for Kasubhai for Harris to cast a deciding confirmation vote.

Schumer said another confirmation vote will be scheduled soon.