In the face of a virtual wall of silence among Senate Republicans, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio has announced that he will place a hold on confirmation of nominees to Justice Department positions to protest the indictment of Donald Trump:

Until Merrick Garland stops using his agency to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, I will hold all DoJ nominees. pic.twitter.com/UVRwi6Ue01

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) June 13, 2023

Via the Daily Caller:

"Donald Trump is merely the latest victim of a Department of Justice that cares more about politics than law enforcement. Merrick Garland's department harasses Christians for pro-life advocacy, but allows hardened criminals to walk our streets unpunished. This must stop, and I will do everything in my ability to ensure it does," Vance said in a statement. "Starting today, I will hold all Department of Justice nominations. If Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden's political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt."

Vance's office later qualified this pledge to exclude nominees to the U.S. Marshals Service.  That leaves the following:

Nine senior DOJ positions are currently vacant, according to The Washington Post's Political Appointee Tracker. Several U.S. Attorney positions also remain vacant.

It is not clear what might cause Vance to drop this hold.  Perhaps the special prosecutor Jack Smith dropping the charges of the indictment?  Merrick Garland certainly will claim that Smith is "independent" and that he, Garland, cannot properly intervene.  So expect this block to remain until the next president is inaugurated or the matter is ended in the courts.

Attorney David Zukerman emails that he expects Mitch McConnell to "cut him [Vance] off at the knees."  Unlike Speaker McCarthy, McConnell has remained silent about the indictment.  While Vance has five more years of his term, McConnell can certainly remind him that he owes a big debt to financing of his campaign that McConnell facilitated.

Burgess Everett of Politico notes:

Vance doesn't serve on Judiciary, so his action will mostly take place on the floor. It comes amid some other nominee roadblocks: GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking quick military promotions on the Senate floor, HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is hindering health-related nominees over prescription drug prices and Energy Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is opposing all EPA nominees.

Expect the expression "do-nothing Congress" to be liberally applied during the presidential campaign.

Photo credit: Twitter video screen grab.