On 9/6/2023, At a senate hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) grilled Richard E.N. Federico, who has been nominated to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit, and Joshua Paul Kolar, a nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit, on race issues and about his beliefs. Mr. Kennedy said he was “disappointed” at their reluctance to answer his questions.

the Senate legal panel started with testimony from two circuit court appointments: Richard Federico of Kansas, tapped by the Biden administration to fill a vacancy on the Tenth Circuit, and Joshua Kolar of Indiana, selected to join the bench on the Seventh Circuit.

Kolar currently serves as a magistrate judge on the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Federico is a federal public defender and a captain in the U.S. Navy reserves.

Kennedy repeatedly asked the circuit court nominees whether they believed “minorities need special help to achieve,” seemingly alluding to the Supreme Court’s June ruling that struck down affirmative action programs for university admissions.

Both nominees, aiming to present themselves as impartial arbiters of the law, were wary to directly answer Kennedy’s line of questioning — a tactic that on more than one occasion resulted in a tense exchange. Kolar in particular sought to distance his personal beliefs from his work as a jurist. “I think that question is one that the courts will struggle with,” he said before the Louisiana Republican cut him off.

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Kennedy gets no answer on Affirmative Action: Judge, does minority need help to succeed in America today?