Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans advanced President Donald Trump’s nominees for three senior Justice Department positions on March 13 over the objections of Democrat members.

Members voted along party lines in three 12–10 votes to move forward the nominations of attorneys Dean John Sauer, Harmeet Dhillon, and Aaron Reitz.

Reitz and Sauer were grilled by Democrats during their Feb. 26 confirmation hearing on whether officials should always obey court rulings.

Reitz, Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, told the committee that “it would be too case-specific” for him to make a blanket statement on following court orders.

Sauer, nominated for the role of solicitor general, said that generally, “if there’s a direct court order that binds a federal or state official, they should follow it.”

He also cited historical cases where it might have been better if court orders weren’t followed, such as the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision, which held that slaves were not U.S. citizens and could not sue in federal court.

Sauer, who served as Missouri’s solicitor general from 2017 to 2023, represented Trump last year in his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court.

Democrats on the panel and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) disagreed with Sauer’s opinion.

“Don’t ever ever take the position that you’re not going to follow the order of a federal court. Ever,” Kennedy said at the time. “Now, you can disagree with it. Within the bounds of legal ethics, you can criticize it. You can appeal it. Or you can resign.”

Dhillon, tapped to lead the department’s Civil Rights Division, was also asked if she would defy the president if directed to do something illegal or unconstitutional.

She replied that in her years of representing Trump as his personal attorney, he had never asked her to do any such thing.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the panel’s top Democrat, agreed with Kennedy’s comments on following court orders, holding that “failing to unequivocally commit to following federal court orders should disqualify any nominee before this committee.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Durbin’s criticism was “rich” and accused his Democrat colleagues of “turning a blind eye” to prior administration practices and policies that he held to be of questionable legality.

“I, for one, am glad we are getting officials at the Department of Justice who will follow the damn law instead of being lawless and treating the Department of Justice as the personal enforcement arm of the Democratic National Committee.”

Reitz, a former deputy attorney general at the Texas attorney general’s office, is Cruz’s current chief of staff.

Reitz, Sauer, and Dhillon will now face confirmation votes in the full Senate.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.