On 7/31/2024, during a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, lawmakers convened to question Ryan Park, North Carolina’s solicitor general tapped by the White House to serve as a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Louisiana Senator John Kennedy accused Park of “substituting” his judgment with the interests of his clients.

“When you think you’re smarter and more virtuous than your client or the law, you substitute your own judgment, and that’s a dangerous thing to do if you’re a federal judge,” he told the nominee.

He pointed to the case Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, a suit challenging a state voter ID law. The North Carolina legislature filed to intervene in the case, arguing that state Attorney General Josh Stein — Park’s boss — was not properly defending the law.

Kennedy accused Stein and Park of intentionally throwing the case for political purposes. Park rejected that notion and pointed out that he was not involved in the trial proceedings as he was an appellate lawyer.

The nominee further denied any suggestion that he was a political actor, arguing that he has never declined to represent a state client as solicitor general and that he has been “happy and enthusiastic” to defend statutes passed by North Carolina’s Republican legislature or to carry out policies made by Republican state officials.

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Kennedy: You lied, you’re smarter & more virtuous; I would file complaint against you