Ex-Fox News anchor, Democrats oppose Trump judicial nominee over arbitration support

By Nate Raymond

Feb 4 (Reuters) - A conservative legal activist nominated for a federal judgeship on Wednesday defended her past testimony opposing a ban on mandatory arbitration for workplace sexual assault or harassment claims after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson said her views made her "unqualified" for the role.

Anna St. John, the president and general counsel of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, faced questions about that testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination by Republican President Donald Trump to serve as a district court judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

St. John received outsized attention from the panel's top Democrat, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, compared to the other three judicial nominees appearing before it Wednesday due to testimony she delivered in 2021 against bipartisan legislation he backed following the #MeToo movement's emergence.

"I have deep respect and gratitude for women who speak up against predators and those who sexually harass and abuse women," St. John told the panel. "I certainly did not minimize their stories."

But St. John said she will "stand by my testimony, which is that people should have a right to choose arbitration or to go to court." Hamilton's Center for Class Action Fairness fights against "abusive" class action settlements.

The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act was passed by Congress in 2022 and bans companies from forcing employees who allege sexual assault or harassment to settle their claims with an arbitrator without the option of filing a lawsuit.

"Forced arbitration clauses deny sexual assault survivors a day in court and require, in many cases, that the misconduct be concealed from public view," Durbin said.

St. John testified in November 2021 before the U.S. House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee against the bill, saying in a written submission that arbitration can be a faster, less expensive way to resolve disputes, "even when serious harms such as sexual harassment and assault are at issue."

Durbin noted that testimony prompted Carlson to oppose St. John's nomination. Carlson a decade ago filed a high-profile lawsuit accusing Roger Ailes, Fox News' former chief executive, of sexual harassment. Ailes, who died in 2017, denied the claims.

"While women around the country bravely shared the urgency of eradicating forced arbitration, St. John used her power and influence to gaslight these women and the public," Carlson co-wrote in a piece published online January 29 by the progressive group Alliance for Justice Action.

Asked by Durbin if she stood by her prior positions, St. John again defended arbitration, saying it "can be beneficial and that it can result, and often does result, in much higher recoveries for plaintiffs and sexual assault survivors."

Read more:

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