Did the Senate confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general?
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general 50-49 early Saturday, with Collins and Murkowski opposed and Cassidy casting the decisive vote.
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday in a 50-49 vote, ending a drawn-out fight over who should run the Justice Department.
Associated Press reported that the overnight confirmation came after a bruising process that exposed concerns in both parties about installing President Donald Trump's former personal attorney at the top of the department. Blanche has already been leading Justice in an acting capacity. Confirmation matters because it strengthens his authority to set department priorities rather than operate under temporary status.
BBC News reported the same tally and said Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska opposed him, while Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the deciding yes vote. All Senate Democrats voted no. Blanche had been deputy attorney general and took interim leadership in April after Pam Bondi was fired.
The public stakes are practical, not theatrical. The attorney general oversees federal prosecutors, major criminal cases, civil enforcement, and the department's day-to-day judgment about what counts as equal application of the law. Families and local communities feel that work through violent-crime prosecutions, fraud cases, border-related enforcement, and the credibility of federal investigations. When the person running Justice is confirmed rather than acting, the chain of command is clearer.
The confirmation fight centered on trust. BBC reported that some Republican senators raised concerns about Blanche's handling of Jeffrey Epstein-related document releases and his role in a planned $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Critics, including Murkowski, feared the fund could become a vehicle to compensate people prosecuted for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Blanche pledged to walk back the fund after Senate blowback. It remains unclear how binding that pledge is over time.
Murkowski said she lacked confidence Blanche would check the administration's worst impulses and cited concerns about politicization of the Justice Department. Collins raised separate questions about Blanche's role in settling Trump's lawsuit with the IRS, while still saying she trusted him to give candid legal advice. Cassidy framed his vote narrowly: not as a referendum on the president, but as a decision about Blanche under the circumstances, and said he did not want to impede the department's work against violent crime.
Supporters point to Blanche's background as a federal prosecutor and the working trust he built as Trump's personal attorney. AP noted that allies argue those credentials will help him manage the role. Opponents argue the same personal history is exactly why the Senate should have demanded a more independent steward.
What to watch next is not the victory-lap language. Watch charging decisions, personnel moves, inspector-general independence, and whether the department's major cases look driven by statutes and evidence rather than score-settling. A confirmed attorney general has more room to act. The country needs that power used with discipline.
The clean fact of the morning is simple: after months of acting leadership and a narrow final vote, Todd Blanche is attorney general of the United States.