[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 121 (Thursday, July 23, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4249-S4250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Daniel Mack Traynor

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr President, prior to his confirmation to the district 
court, Judge Daniel Traynor showed his true colors as a MAGA partisan. 
After he was confirmed, he had a chance to show that he could be a 
neutral arbiter on the bench. Yet after more than 6 years as a jurist, 
Judge Traynor has confirmed what Democrats warned about, that he would 
be a rubberstamp for President Trump.
  As just one example, Judge Traynor has ruled in favor of the Trump 
administration in all 28 cases on his docket

[[Page S4250]]

involving challenges from immigrants who have been detained by ICE 
under the administration's illegal mandatory detention policy.
  That includes seven habeas corpus petitions Judge Traynor volunteered 
to preside over in the District of Minnesota following Operation Metro 
Surge.
  Judge Traynor is an outlier. Of the more than 17,800 cases in which 
Federal district judges have ruled on ICE's mandatory detention policy, 
at least 15,500 were rulings against the Trump administration, 
including the vast majority of rulings by Trump-appointed judges.
  Judge Traynor's partisanship was also made apparent when he served as 
a contributing author and signatory of a May 2024 letter from Federal 
judges to the Columbia University president. The signatories vowed not 
to hire anyone who attended Columbia University beginning that year.
  But Judge Traynor denied a recusal motion in a case brought by 
Columbia Law School's Initiative for a Just Society, implausibly 
claiming he wasn't biased against Columbia.
  While he was comfortable taking a position on this controversial 
political question, Judge Traynor refused to answer questions at his 
hearing on who won the 2020 election, calling that well-settled fact a 
matter of ``political controversy.''
  It is very clear that Judge Traynor seeks to remain in the good 
graces of President Trump, at the cost of his integrity and 
independence.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination.