Vermont lawmakers on Tuesday confirmed two nominees to the state Supreme Court, but the approvals unfolded very differently—one after a quick floor vote and the other after a tie-breaking decision that left senators debating the meaning of “doing your job” in politically charged cases.
The day’s first vote cleared Christina Nolan, a former top federal prosecutor in Vermont during President Donald Trump’s first term, after senators approved her with little debate, 23-7. The AP report said senators had previously confronted both Drescher and Nolan in Senate Judiciary Committee questioning before advancing them to the full chamber, where final confirmations come with lifetime appointments.
Michael Drescher’s confirmation was the one that triggered the rare procedural moment. Senators weighed his nomination after Republican Lt. Gov. John Rodgers cast a tie-breaking vote in the divided chamber, according to Senate secretary John Bloomer. The AP report said Rodgers’ vote marked the first time a lieutenant governor broke a tie on a confirmation vote in more than 30 years.
Prior to the floor vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee spent weeks interrogating Drescher’s and Nolan’s records after Gov. Phil Scott tapped both candidates last month. Drescher’s path became contentious even within the committee, where the AP report said a vote to recommend him failed 2-3, with only Republicans supporting the recommendation. Instead of issuing a recommendation either way, the committee voted not to present a recommendation—prompting further action on the Senate floor.
On the floor, that absence of a committee recommendation set off the debate over whether Drescher would uphold Vermont law free of outside political pressure. Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, moved to send the confirmation back to the judiciary committee after senators considered Drescher’s candidacy. The AP report said Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, interjected and successfully moved for senators to take a 20-minute break before resuming.
When senators returned, the speeches reflected disagreement centered on Drescher’s federal prosecutorial work. Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, said she could not support the appointment because of what she characterized as the gravity of the Mahdawi matter and its impact on her community in the Upper Valley, where the AP report said Mahdawi is a resident. White told the chamber that Drescher’s court arguments were “almost morose” and argued that even without a political affinity for Trump, Drescher chose to represent Trump’s agenda in front of a judge.
Other senators defended Drescher while acknowledging the political attention around his former role. The AP report said the two Bennington Democrats, Sen. Seth Bongartz and Sen. Rob Plunkett, voted with Republicans in support of Drescher. Bongartz said Drescher should not be “hung out to dry” because his job required him to represent two highly controversial cases, framing Drescher’s performance as courage and integrity. Plunkett, who is also a prosecutor, told senators he changed his mind after careful consideration and said he wants the judiciary to stand outside the political fray.
Plunkett also described Drescher in terms that drew sharp contrasts with the criticism from other Democrats. The AP report said Plunkett condemned the arrests of Mahdawi and Öztürk but still voted for Drescher, saying he was well-qualified and had integrity. Plunkett said Drescher was “a government lawyer who refuses to mislead the court, even when under pressure,” and argued that people like him protect the rule of law when it is under attack.
Senators who opposed Drescher also challenged his framing that he was simply carrying out professional duties. The AP report said Hinsdale and Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, questioned Drescher’s decision to attend a Florida press conference this fall with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to discuss his prosecution of human trafficking cases, and said the appearance was in bad taste—one factor cited for why they would vote no.
After the debate, the AP report said the roll call vote ended in a 15-15 stalemate, and Rodgers then cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of Drescher’s confirmation. Rodgers told senators he stood by the decision and said it was based on knowledge and on a belief that Drescher would be “a truly great justice.” Rodgers also said he did not believe Drescher would undermine public trust in the court and that critics lacked a thorough understanding of his role in the cases.
The controversy traces back to Drescher’s work as Vermont’s top federal prosecutor in the year before the nomination. The AP report said Drescher represented the federal government in cases involving the detention of Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk, including court arguments that Mahdawi should remain detained after Mahdawi was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester in April. Mahdawi, described by the AP report as a Palestinian student activist at Columbia University who opposed Israel’s war in Gaza, became a focal point for scrutiny of the legal precedent and the federal position in his case. The AP report also said Mahdawi’s lawyers filed a civil lawsuit arguing his detention was unlawful.
The AP report said proponents emphasized that Drescher was not the person pressing criminal charges against Mahdawi and Öztürk, but rather responding to a civil lawsuit filed by their attorneys. Critics, in contrast, pushed senators to draw a line between job duties and what they viewed as acceptable advocacy in cases that drew national attention.
For Christina Nolan, senators started from a different posture. The AP report said Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, told the chamber earlier Tuesday why Nolan received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs. The report said Hashim described initial hesitations but said he was “pleasantly and positively surprised by her as a candidate and now as a nominee,” and he discussed his role on the board that recommended candidates to Gov. Scott.
According to the AP report, Nolan had told senators in committee that she planned to put her political past behind her and act as a “bulwark” against government oversteps. The report said she served as Vermont’s top federal prosecutor under Trump’s first administration and earned a unanimous U.S. Senate confirmation following Scott’s recommendation and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch’s involvement. The AP report also cited Nolan’s record prosecuting the EB-5 scandal at Jay Peak resort in the mid-2010s and her role in a federal prosecutors’ $8 billion legal settlement with Purdue Pharma in 2020.
After both votes, Scott said he commended senators who voted in line with his nominees. The AP report said Scott emphasized that Vermonters expect Supreme Court justices to be well-qualified, to act with integrity and character, and to ensure that outside politics does not interfere with the confirmation process, saying elected officials are “expected to do the same.”