The governor is calling the General Assembly into special session to consider his nomination of Nora Dannehy to the state Supreme Court.
Dannehy is a former top federal prosecutor who resigned from the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
When Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont announced Dannehy's nomination, he called his former general counsel “a woman of integrity who pursues justice wherever the evidence may lead.”
“Nora Dannehy is a person who knows what she knows, but you also know that she cares,” Lamont said, paraphrasing a quote from the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “She cares deeply about justice. She’s going to be an extraordinary associate justice on the Supreme Court.”
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Besides the Trump-Russia probe, Dannehy is well known in Connecticut for leading the successful federal corruption prosecutions of former Republican Gov. John G. Rowland in 2004 and other public figures during her tenure as the first woman U.S. Attorney in Connecticut.
The next step is for her to be presented to the Democratic-controlled General Assembly for consideration.
Lamont issued a proclamation for the special session to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
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Lamont said that his office will forward Dannehy’s nomination to the legislature after the Senate and House of Representatives open the special session.
He said it is anticipated that the leadership of the Judiciary Committee will schedule a public hearing to be held in the following days, then it is expected that the committee will vote on the nomination, followed by votes by the full legislature.
Dannehy, a 62-year-old Connecticut native, served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 2008 to 2010.
She later was appointed deputy attorney general for the state of Connecticut before taking a job with United Technologies Corporation as associate general counsel for global ethics and compliance.
She rejoined the federal government in early 2019 to help then-Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham scrutinize how the FBI and other federal agencies set out to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Kremlin.
Dannehy has not spoken publicly about her decision to leave the Durham investigation during the final stretch.
Dannehy is Lamont's second nominee to the state's highest court this year.
In May, Sandra Slack Glover, another federal prosecutor with no judicial experience, withdrew her name from consideration after state lawmakers raised questions about a letter she signed in 2017 supporting Amy Coney Barrett for a federal appeals court position.
Glover tried to assure Connecticut lawmakers that she would not have signed the 2017 letter if she knew Barrett would later vote to overturn Roe v. Wade abortion protections as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Some lawmakers at the time voiced concern about her lack of judicial experience and said they had many unanswered questions about how she would perform on the bench.
Lamont said he believes legislators are much more familiar with Dannehy. Also, he said his administration learned from the failed Glover nomination to talk to all the legislators and “make sure nobody jumps to conclusions” about a nominee's record. He said he's confident Dannehy will be confirmed.
There was some pushback to Dannehy's nomination from activists who contend Lamont should look beyond prosecutors for judicial candidates.
“Just like a jury needs to contain a cross section of the community with different points of view, different backgrounds and different heritage, the judiciary should contain a cross section of views across the legal system, said civil rights attorney Alexander Taubes, a member of the People's Parity Project.
Lamont’s office said the governor also plans on issuing a second proclamation in the coming days that will call the legislature into another special session to be held later this month to consider legislation changing the date set by state statute for Connecticut’s presidential preference primary.
