Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) led the charge leading to the 54-45 defeat, labeling her as a “judicial activist” and suggesting she was not suited for the nation’s most powerful circuit court.
Powerful Democrats came to Halligan’s defense on Tuesday, but to no avail, arguing that Republicans had unfairly skewered her and mischaracterized statements she had made throughout her career on and off the bench.