WASHINGTON (CN) - President Donald Trump's nominee to fill a vacancy on the federal bench in Louisiana on Wednesday defended comments she previously made to lawmakers in which she held up arbitration as a legitimate method for resolving legal disputes - even those that involve claims of sexual harassment or assault.
And while Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee needled Anna St. John on her past testimony opposing a bill aimed at ending forced arbitration for certain cases, the Eastern District of Louisiana nominee contended her statements should not be misconstrued as minimizing the experience of women seeking accountability for harassment.
Wednesday marked the Judiciary Committee's first judicial nominations hearing of the year, and it was very much back to business as usual for lawmakers who grilled the White House's latest slate of court picks, as well as Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
But Democrats particularly scrutinized St. John, president and general counsel at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, for comments she made at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on forced arbitration.
Congress has repeatedly been urged to address forced arbitration, a process by which employers can block an employee from filing a lawsuit in the event of a dispute and instead force them to engage in a private mediation process with a third party. Most recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the subject from former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who said at a 2024 hearing that forced arbitration strips employees "of their rights to future justice."
But in her own testimony before the House on the same subject in 2021, St. John posed arbitration as a potentially "advantageous" dispute resolution process for consumers and employees and framed the mechanism as faster and less expensive than litigation "even when serious harms such as sexual harassment and assault are at issue."
"A federal law that takes away individuals' right to agree to arbitrate claims relating to sexual harassment and assault pre-dispute raises concerns," St. John told lawmakers of legislation to end forced arbitration. "It removes decision making about these issues from those personally affected by them and transfers it to the federal government."
The nominee also said at the time that such a measure would deny sexual assault victims access to a "valid and often advantageous dispute resolution process."
During Wednesday's hearing, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin questioned St. John on her statements, and revealed that Carlson - herself a victim of sexual harassment from former Fox News chair Roger Ailes - had expressed concern about the nominee.
Durbin, citing statements from Carlson, said St. John had "used her power and influence to gaslight" women who have come forward and shared their experiences in pursuit of ending forced arbitration.
"She downplayed their stories and minimized their pain," the Illinois Democrat said. "Instead of listening to women who were forced to suffer in silence, St. John tried to convince Congress that these women's understanding of their own experiences was incorrect."
St. John replied that she had "deep respect and gratitude" for the women who had come forward. "I certainly did not minimize their stories," she told Durbin.
But the nominee stood by her testimony, saying she had provided the House with perspectives on the possible benefits of arbitration, which she said can often result in higher financial recoveries for plaintiffs, including victims of sexual assault.
"I respect every party's right to go to court or to resolve their disputes in arbitration, and I don't believe my testimony can be interpreted to be minimizing women or forcing them to take a certain approach to resolving these very troubling problems in our society," said St. John.
Carlson and other experts argued before the Senate in 2024 that companies often impose forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts to sidestep accountability for misconduct.
"We're talking about systems that were created by companies and look exactly like what a company would create - a system that protects them and doesn't protect the rest of us," Yeshiva University professor Myriam Gillies told lawmakers at the time.
Meanwhile, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee offered a resounding endorsement Wednesday of St. John's qualifications.
"She's a real student of the law, and not all lawyers are," said Louisiana Senator John Kennedy. "She understands the beauty of the law, she understands the majesty of the law, she understands the nuances. That's the kind of person we want on the federal bench."
Kennedy pointed to St. John's experience as a private practice attorney, including at the prestigious Washington firm Covington & Burling, which the senator quipped doesn't hire "dummies." He also lauded the nominee for her experience clerking for the Fifth Circuit and cited her education at Columbia Law School, where he said she "knocked the top off."
The Judiciary Committee on Wednesday also needled Andrew Davis and Christopher Wolfe, nominated to vacancies in the Western District of Texas, as well as John Shepherd, Trump's pick to join the Western District of Arkansas. Lawmakers also questioned Robert Cekada, currently deputy director of the ATF and in line to assume the agency's leadership role.
Source: Courthouse News Service
