A White House attorney nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on a specialized federal court handling trade and tariff disputes has been confirmed to a lifetime judgeship, despite backlash over inflammatory social media posts she made targeting members of the Senate — including members of her own party.
The Republican-controlled Senate approved Kara Westercamp’s appointment to the U.S. Court of International Trade by a vote of 50-48 on Tuesday. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine broke with her party to vote against confirmation alongside Democratic senators.
Two Republican senators did not cast votes, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has been hospitalized and away from the Senate floor. In past Twitter posts, Westercamp had referred to McConnell as “Cocaine Mitch” and accused him of betraying Trump.
The Senate proceeded with the confirmation vote while McConnell was absent. The proceedings also came after the July 11 death of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, another target of Westercamp’s past social media criticism. She had described Graham as “weak-ass” and “disappointing,” and had also shared a post critical of Senator Collins.
Westercamp’s history of social media activity, along with her work advising the Trump administration on tariff policy, became central concerns for senators weighing whether she was fit to serve on the New York-based court, which handles disputes involving customs regulations and international trade law.
Westercamp currently serves as an associate counsel in the White House and previously worked at the U.S. Department of Justice. When Trump announced her nomination in a February social media post, he praised her as a “very experienced Trade Lawyer” who had been involved in “defending our historic and popular America First Agenda.”
Trump made the nomination announcement approximately one week before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his broad global tariffs, which had already been challenged before the Court of International Trade.
Westercamp has stated that she was not part of the original development of the tariff policies at the center of the Supreme Court case, though she acknowledged involvement in drafting and reviewing certain executive orders that also drew on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
She has pledged to step aside from any cases connected to her work at the White House Counsel’s Office.
During a March hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Westercamp faced pointed questions about her past posts. Senator Dick Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat, described the messages as “prolific, inflammatory” attacks on fellow senators.
“This shameless display of extreme rhetoric does not reflect the independence or the judicial temperament required for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench,” Durbin said in a statement released Tuesday.
Westercamp offered an apology at the March hearing, noting the posts were made in a personal capacity while she was employed at the Justice Department.
“In hindsight, I think that using Twitter is not the right platform, especially retweets from someone I don’t know regarding political opinions, controversial topics, or even characterizations of people,” she said. “And so I do sincerely apologize for those posts.”
Democratic senators also questioned Westercamp at the hearing about additional posts in which they said she appeared to suggest that law enforcement or Antifa bore some responsibility for the violence during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when thousands of Trump supporters attempted to block certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
Westercamp said she condemned all violence from that day and expressed regret over those posts. When asked directly who won the 2020 presidential election, she responded only that “in 2020, President Biden was certified by the Electoral College.”
