Harold Koh has been reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a 12 to 5 vote, according to a committee spokesperson. Ranking member, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) voted with the committee’s 11 Democrats to advance Koh’s nomination to be the State Department’s Legal Adviser to the Senate floor.
Koh’s vote in committee had been scheduled for last week, but, without explanation, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) delayed that vote until today’s hearing, and then opposed the former Yale Law School Dean. Republicans could potentially use similar tactics to delay a full vote, and a number of conservative activists are hoping to spike the nomination entirely.
