At 4:17 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 8, the U.S. Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the 88th attorney general of the United States.
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) decision to support Blanche was more than disappointing — it was a revealing portrait of political cowardice. Cassidy, a physician who once presented himself as an independent voice within the Republican Party, had the chance to draw a line. Instead, he crossed it.
Blanche was not merely another presidential nominee. He is a former personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump and has faced serious questions about the U.S. Department of Justice’s independence and judgment. Even Cassidy acknowledged Blanche’s shortcomings but concluded he was the best available choice. With Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Ark.) opposing the nomination, Cassidy’s support became critical to Blanche’s path to confirmation.
This is hardly Cassidy’s first surrender of principle. In February 2025, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Cassidy cast the decisive Republican vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The committee vote was 14–13.
Cassidy had publicly expressed serious concerns about Kennedy, particularly given his history of spreading claims widely challenged by public-health authorities. Yet Cassidy ultimately provided the vote that sent the nomination to the full Senate, where Kennedy was confirmed 52–48.
The irony is almost painful. Cassidy voted with the Trump agenda an overwhelming majority of the time — 89% to 93% of the time — yet it did not save him. This spring, Trump endorsed Cassidy’s opponent, and Cassidy finished third in Louisiana’s Republican primary, ending his Senate career.
One would think that having learned that political appeasement offers no protection, Cassidy might finally find the courage to stand by his convictions. Instead, he has once again chosen to bend rather than stand.
Former President John F. Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Profiles in Courage” celebrated senators who accepted political consequences for doing what they believed was right. Cassidy’s record on Secretary Kennedy – and now on Blanche offers a starkly different lesson. If Kennedy gave America “Profiles in Courage,” Cassidy’s latest vote gives us something else: a Profile in Cowardice.
Cassidy and all the other senators who supported Blanche’s nomination share this honor with another Profile in Cowardice: Secretary Kennedy, the late President’s nephew.
The tragedy is not merely what Cassidy has done to his legacy. It is what happens to a democracy when elected officials repeatedly put political calculation above principle.
