The Senate will vote today to advance, or not, the worst of the unindicted co-conspirator's judicial nominees. Thomas Farr, who has been neck-deep in racist voter suppression efforts in North Carolina for decades, is up for a lifetime district court seat. Oh, and he lied to the Judiciary Committee about it, too.
Every Democrat is going to vote against advancing this nomination. So is retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is withholding his vote on every Trump nominee until Mitch McConnell allows a vote on legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. (McConnell continues to refuse to allow that vote.) Which means they just need one more Republican to join them to scuttle the nomination. They've got two candidates.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only black Republican in the Senate, has already torpedoed one racist Trump nominee, Ryan Bounds. His nomination to the 9th Circuit was headed to the floor when Scott told McConnell he did not have his vote, and the nomination was withdrawn. As of now, Scott is just saying he's still "doing my homework" on Farr, despite the fact that nomination is a year old. "I have no answers on the Farr nomination whatsoever," Scott told HuffPost.
The other potential opposition comes from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) who has already voted against Trump on key votes—Obamacare repeal and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Murkowski told HuffPost that "she has made up her mind on how she'll vote but doesn't want to share it." A Murkowski aide told reporters earlier that the senator "doesn't plan on blocking" the nomination, but that apparently applies just to today's procedural vote, not necessarily her vote on final confirmation.
In case you're wondering, Murkowski's erstwhile partner in resistance has decided that she's A-OK with all things Trump. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) thinks Farr is just peachy. She once again bases her support on her own willingness to buy whatever lies someone will peddle to her for her vote. Farr told her that he "had absolutely nothing to do with" racist activities when he was on former Sen. Jesse Helms re-election campaign team. That would be the thing we know Farr lied to the Judiciary Committee about. This is becoming a pattern with Collins.