Sullivan's choice for federal judge refuses to admit Trump lost 2020 election

Aaron C. Peterson, who is in line for a lifetime appointment as the next federal judge in Alaska, can’t muster the political courage to admit that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

This doesn’t bode well for his ability to tell the truth or defend the rule of law in the decades to come.

It reflects poorly on the strength of his character, a quality that would be tested every day in court by special interests, wealthy corporations and powerful people trying to warp the course of justice.

Peterson’s evasiveness on Trump’s loss, resolved definitively in more than five dozen court cases across the country, shows that Peterson can’t stand up to the person who rules the Republican Party and lies about his 2020 loss on a daily basis.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-8 Thursday along party lines to advance Peterson’s nomination to a full Senate vote.

Earlier in the process, Peterson responded to a host of questions from Democratic senators in which Peterson ducked many key questions about Trump, the rule of law, the January 6th insurrection and many critical issues facing the nation. He tried to say as little as possible, aiming to be vague and secretive about how he would perform on the job, a tactic that only works with the U.S. Senate.

He said that like other nominees, the only two Supreme Court cases that he feels safe in saying were properly decided in the history of the United States are Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark civil rights case on schools and Loving v. Virginia, which supported the right to inter-racial marriages.

He refused to give a direct answer on whether Trump can run for president in 2028. He refused to say whether the president can nullify or ignore laws.

Peterson, 44, endorsed by Sen. Dan Sullivan’s hand-picked selection committee and championed by Sullivan, refused to give a direct answer to the question of whether Trump lost the 2020 election.

The correct answer is yes. Trump lost.

But Peterson choose to parrot the Republican weasel words that dozens of Trump’s judicial nominees have regurgitated this year: “President Joe Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election and served as the 46th president of the United States.”

A review of Trump’s judicial nominees by the group Demand Justice found that nearly all of them used the same words and phrases to obscure Trump’s loss and none of them would say anything about the January 6th insurrection.

Peterson followed that pattern exactly, claiming that he can’t express his opinion or whether he even has an opinion on almost any topic you can imagine. When he replied to questions, he did so with evasion in almost every instance, trying to reveal as little as possible.

Asked if he denounced the actions on January 6th, Peterson claimed it would be “inappropriate” to answer the question or express an opinion. He said it would be inappropriate to say whether the January 6th insurrection was an insurrection. He claimed it was a political matter, but he refused to say why he claims it is a political matter.

Asked if he agreed with the pardons given to rioters who attacked police on January 6h, Peterson it would be inappropriate to answer.

Asked if U.S. citizens can be taken to other countries to be incarcerated, he said it would be inappropriate to answer.

Asked if every person born in the U.S. is a citizen, he said it would be inappropriate to answer.

Peterson said he “drafted the answers” to the questions he received, but the Trump administration’s Office of Legal Policy “reviewed the drafts for completeness and compliance” with what the Senate committee wanted to see.

Before the Senate votes to give Peterson a job for life as a federal judge, Alaskans deserve to know exactly what Sullivan’s hand-picked committee, which met in secret, did in vetting Peterson.

The last thing we need is a federal judge in Alaska without the guts to say that Trump lost in 2020.

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