Senate Judiciary Committee Schedules Confirmation Hearing for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at 9 a.m. on July 15, 2026, for his confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department on a permanent basis. President Trump nominated Blanche in June 2025 after the departure of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Blanche, 51, previously served as deputy attorney general, a position the Senate confirmed in March 2025. He has held the acting attorney general role since early April 2025. Blanche spent 12 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, rising to co-chief of the White Plains division before leaving in 2014.

He joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a partner in 2017 and left the firm in 2023. He represented President Trump in the New York hush money case and in matters brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The hearing will continue on Thursday. Former Justice Department pardon attorney Liz Oyer and Epstein victim Dani Bensky are scheduled to testify for Democrats. A group of more than 1,200 former Justice Department attorneys wrote a letter opposing Blanche’s nomination.

Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina remain undecided. The death of Senator Lindsey Graham has left Republicans with a one-seat majority in the Senate. The New York Times reported that Blanche’s decision to grant President Trump protection from I.R.S. audits is set to be a central issue.

The Justice Department under Blanche published nearly 3.5 million pages of Epstein files in January 2026 and indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for alleged donor fraud. President Trump posted on Truth Social that Blanche brought murder rates to historic lows, increased violent crime arrests by 100 percent, and oversaw the seizure of more than 500 million deadly doses of drugs.