Todd Blanche Confirmed as Attorney General in Narrowest Possible Senate Vote
Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general of the United States at a White House ceremony on Monday, August 10, 2026, ending a confirmation fight that exposed deep partisan divisions in the Senate and fractures within the Republican caucus itself. The Guardian
The Senate confirmed Blanche in an overnight roll-call vote recorded at 4:17 AM on Saturday, August 8, 2026 — Vote Number 230 of the 119th Congress — by a margin of 50 to 49. U.S. Senate Every Democratic senator voted against confirmation. Two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also voted no, making the final tally the narrowest possible path to a majority. Reuters
Blanche becomes the second confirmed attorney general of the Trump administration, following Pam Bondi. PBS NewsHour He had been serving as acting attorney general since April 2026, bridging the gap between Bondi's tenure and his own formal installation. Prior to his elevation to acting AG, Blanche held the position of 40th Deputy Attorney General, having been sworn into that role in an Oval Office ceremony presided over by President Trump. The White House
Blanche's path to the Justice Department's top job is unconventional by traditional standards. He first came to national prominence as Donald Trump's personal defense attorney, a role that placed him on the opposite side of the courtroom from the institution he now leads. The transition from personal counsel to the nation's chief law enforcement officer carries inherent tensions that Democratic senators pressed throughout the confirmation process. Their unified opposition reflects concerns, broadly aired during debate, about the independence of the Department of Justice under an attorney general with such direct personal ties to the president.
The Republican defections tell their own story. Collins and Murkowski, both of whom have broken with their party on high-profile confirmation votes before, evidently found the case against Blanche sufficiently compelling, or the case for him insufficiently reassuring, to cross the aisle. With a 53-seat Republican majority, the leadership could afford only three defections before losing the vote. Two materialized. The margin could not have been thinner.
Blanche's nomination was formally considered for the position of 88th Attorney General of the United States, as reflected in Department of Justice documentation. DOJ His tenure as deputy attorney general preceded his acting role; in that capacity, he was referenced alongside Bondi in a major antitrust address delivered by Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater at the University of Notre Dame in April 2025, indicating his involvement in the department's enforcement priorities well before the vacancy at the top. DOJ
The broader context here matters for understanding the stakes. Blanche takes permanent authority over a department that has been at the center of political controversy throughout Trump's second term, from questions about the scope of presidential pardons to the direction of antitrust enforcement to the handling of politically sensitive investigations. An attorney general who previously represented the president personally in legal proceedings will face scrutiny on every decision that touches, even tangentially, on matters involving Trump or his associates.
The overnight timing of the vote, 4:17 AM on a Saturday, is itself worth noting. Senate leadership scheduled the cloture (a procedural motion to end debate and force a final vote) and final vote in the small hours, a choice often used to minimize public attention or to compress the window for opposition organizing. Whether by design or by the mechanics of floor management, the result was a confirmation completed before most of the country was awake.
Blanche now takes full control of the Justice Department's roughly 115,000 employees, its litigating divisions, the FBI's oversight chain, and the framework of federal prosecutorial discretion — the authority that determines which cases the government brings and which it sets aside. He does so with the narrowest possible Senate mandate: 50 votes, two of his own party's senators dissenting, and not a single Democratic vote in support.
