(AP) — The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved President Joe Biden’s nomination of Clare Connors to be the next U.S. attorney for Hawaiʻi. Connors’ nomination now goes to the full Senate. Speaking to the committee, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaiʻi praised Connors’ experience as an assistant U.S. attorney, state attorney general and lawyer in private practice. The Democrat says Connors is exceptionally well qualified for the job. Some Native Hawaiians have objected to Connors’ appointment. They say she treated dozens of elders like criminals when the office she oversees as Hawaiʻi’s attorney general prosecuted them for blocking a road while protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.

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