The U.S. Senate summoned Nashville attorney Karla Campbell to Washington, D.C., Thursday for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee following her nomination to the federal bench. President Joe Biden tapped Campbell, a labor lawyer at Nashville firm Stranch, Jennings & Garvey, for an opening on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in May after a monthslong vetting process. Campbell previously clerked for outgoing 6th Circuit Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch.
U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley led attacks on Campbell for associations with Nashville nonprofit Workers’ Dignity/Dignidad Obrera and a $1,500 campaign donation to Odessa Kelly, who lost a congressional bid against Mark Green in 2022. Democrats, including committee chair Peter Welch of Vermont, backed Campbell’s nomination, highlighting her professional background.
President names Nashville attorney to fill seat on 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
Blackburn also claimed that she and her fellow Sen. Bill Hagerty were not consulted in Campbell’s vetting process even though they represent her home state. Under oath, Campbell disputed this, saying she was interviewed by Blackburn’s office in the late fall; she even cited condolence notes signed by Blackburn’s staff that she received when her mom died during the interviewing process.
“A lot of it is theater — some of it will be posted on YouTube,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who studies the federal judicial process, tells the Scene. “Part of it is, this is an election year, and it’s a controversial election. They nationalize the process as a matter of electioneering, which is unfortunate because these are pretty accomplished nominees.”
Blackburn, who sits on the judiciary committee, has vocally opposed past Biden nominees from Tennessee. Democrats, who hold an 11-10 edge in the committee, will likely approve Campbell’s nomination (along with three other judicial nominees) in mid-July after a recess. If her nomination is successful, Campbell will be the fourth judge Biden has added to the 6th Circuit in the past two years.
Cruz and Hawley drilled down on Campbell’s previous connection to Workers’ Dignity in an attempt to associate her with leftist politics. Cruz aides even provided posters as a visual aid behind his seat on the dais. Campbell said she served on a legal advisory board for the group a decade ago. Sen. Lindsey Graham specifically read tweets from Kelly, whom Campbell described as a neighbor, that describe him and Senate colleagues as “obviously aligned with the Devil” for their conduct when the same body fought Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, now a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Campbell said she had not seen the tweet. During Blackburn’s short questioning, she repeated that her office hadn’t previously interviewed Campbell.
“If you said something in high school, in this committee, be prepared to defend it,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said toward the end of the hearing. "It may define your life for some members of the committee."
Durbin gave Campbell the last word.
“Approximately 10 to 15 years ago, I served for two or three years on an advisory board for an organization that was, at that time, getting off the ground," Campbell explained. "I understood it to be a nonprofit group that would help low-wage workers by providing them with information about their legal rights. That was something I supported and volunteered my time for. In recent years, I have not had any involvement in that group because I believe that they have strayed into the political sphere.”
