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John Cornyn wants Texas Republicans to believe he’s a conservative fighter who can use his seniority to deliver for the Lone Star State. According to Senate voting records, the embattled senator, who barely scraped past Attorney General Ken Paxton in the March primary despite outspending him nearly eighteen to one , has a voting history that is now coming back to haunt the Trump administration in federal courtrooms across the country.
As documented in Congressional records, Cornyn voted to confirm double-digit numbers of Biden’s judicial nominees, many of them during the 117th Congress when Republicans actually had leverage thanks to a fifty-fifty Senate split. Because Cornyn and other establishment Republicans were willing to play ball, not a single one of those confirmation votes required Kamala Harris to break a tie, as reported by The Washington Times. Biden knew he had reliable cover from Republicans like Cornyn, which likely emboldened him to nominate more radical judges than he otherwise would have.
The consequences are playing out in real time. Biden judges confirmed with Cornyn’s blessing have blocked Trump from enforcing immigration law, fighting fraud, and even implementing tariffs that were successfully pressuring China and Mexico to address fentanyl trafficking, according to rulings documented by Fox News. For instance, Lindsay Jenkins, confirmed with Cornyn’s vote , dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Illinois sanctuary policies. Jerry Edwards, another Cornyn approval , granted injunctions against expanded immigration detention, while Zahid Quraishi, also confirmed by Cornyn , ordered the release of detained migrants in immigration cases.
And the hits keep coming. Regina Rodriguez, another Cornyn vote , ruled that immigrant detention cases could become class action lawsuits, as per court documents from the U.S. District Court. Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered the release of a pro-Palestinian student Trump sought to deport, according to a ruling covered by Breitbart. Dana Douglas, confirmed to the Fifth Circuit , issued the opinion that forced Texas to remove floating barriers from the Rio Grande as part of Operation Lone Star, and Paxton had to win that case on appeal, wasting state resources because Cornyn helped put an activist on the bench.
It’s not just immigration. Cornyn-approved judges have blocked Catholic schools from enforcing their beliefs on admissions, as reported in a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals; ruled against HHS for defunding radical LGBTQ research programs, per analyses from The Federalist; issued restraining orders against Trump’s fraud-fighting freezes on childcare funds, according to Justice Department filings; and even ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, as detailed in rulings from the U.S. Trade Court. Florence Pan, another Cornyn confirmation , ruled against Trump on presidential immunity in 2024, a decision that could have sent him to prison if the Supreme Court hadn’t corrected it, based on Supreme Court transcripts.
Of twelve particularly damaging judicial confirmations, only three Republicans voted for every single one: Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn, as tallied by Senate.gov. That’s the company he keeps. This is the same John Cornyn who called Trump’s border wall naive, said it would rate very low among Texans, and openly questioned whether Trump understood the border issue at all, according to interviews archived by C-SPAN. Now he wants another six years to keep helping Democrats from the bench.
Texas voters have a choice in the runoff. They can reward a senator who has consistently undermined conservative priorities and made the Trump administration’s job harder at every turn, or they can send a message that results matter more than seniority. The judicial record speaks for itself.
Providence watches over the bold.
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