Critics howl as red state Republicans turn on Trump appointee in latest blow

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts during a meeting with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 17, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

When a host of blue states form a habit of knocking President Donald Trump’s legal appointees to the curb, it’s galling, says the conservative National Review. But when a red state does it, it’s a downright outrage.

“According to the website for the U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday appointed the interim U.S. attorney, Melissa Holyoak, to be first assistant U.S. attorney,” reports National Review writer Michael Fragoso. “Holyoak had been named interim U.S. attorney 120 days ago.”

What’s the problem with Holyoak’s new role? It means a ruby-red district in a Trump-voting state refused to make her original, higher appointment permanent.

“From this we can deduce that the District of Utah declined to appoint Holyoak as U.S. attorney following the expiration of her interim term,” said Fragoso. “This is no longer uncommon, having happened in (at least) the Central District of California, the District of Nevada, the Northern District of New York, the District of New Jersey, the District of Wisconsin, and the Eastern District of Virginia.”

But Fragoso argues that the situation in Utah is different, with almost every one of the blue state rejections happening against “a political backdrop of the executive feuding with home-state senators and therefore, through Senate custom, the Senate.”

But “there are no reasonable questions about Holyoak’s qualifications — unlike in some of these other districts,” said Fragoso. “She was previously solicitor general of Utah and was appointed interim U.S. attorney after honorable service on the Federal Trade Commission, a position to which she was appointed by Joe Biden at the recommendation of Mitch McConnell.”

In other words, unlike Trump’s appointees in other states, Holyoak was a “well-qualified incumbent, who has the support of her senators and is cruising to imminent confirmation,” said Fragoso. “Yet the district court still declined to appoint her to the role. Even assuming that district courts, constitutionally, have the robust appointment power that they have asserted under Trump, simple prudence would seem to counsel against this course of action. But prudence is not on order these days.”

But the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Holyoak drew the ire of conservative groups, who “objected” to her FTC nomination, arguing that she had a “history of attempting to kneecap the work of the government in holding Big Tech companies accountable” while working at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute.

Fragoso is furious, calling the refusal to confirm her “quite simply a usurpation by the judiciary, not only of the president’s power but also the Senate’s,” and he suggested the U.S. Senate “send a forceful message to the district judges of Utah — and nationwide — by immediately filing cloture on Holyoak’s nomination and confirming her as soon as practicable.”

The problem there, however, is that the Republican Senate is entangled in trying to pass President Donald Trump’s controversial SAVE America Act, which has it so caught up that it’s “possible” the debate “will go on until the Easter recess.”

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