President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Justice Department’s civil rights division has failed a Senate test vote and his confirmation is in jeopardy.
The vote was 47-52, short of the needed majority.
The controversy over Debo Adegbile stems from legal representation of a man imprisoned in the murder of a Philadelphia policeman decades ago.
It was unclear what the next step will be for his supporters. Several Democrats joined all Senate Republicans in voting to prevent confirmation.
President Barack Obama says the Senate’s failure to move ahead on his choice to run the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is a “travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant.”
Adegbile was at the NAACP Legal Defense fund when the organization began representing Mumia Abu-Jama, who was appealing his conviction in the killing in 1981 of a police officer.
The vote marked the first time a nominee has stalled since Democrats restricted critics’ abilities to block confirmations.
Associated Press, originally reported from Politico
