A Republican Senator's Anti-Abortion Protest Has Left the Marines Without a Confirmed Leader for First Time in 150 Years

The U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century as a Republican senator is blocking approval of military nominations.

On Monday, Gen. David Berger's retirement officially began; taking his place is Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith, who will serve in an acting capacity until confirmed. Until formally confirmed, Smith — as acting commandant — will not be able to issue guidance on planning or policies, nor make any major changes.

But his confirmation is stalled as Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican, blocks hundreds of military nominations from moving forward.

Tuberville's anger with the military comes in the wake of last year's Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that granted women the right to an abortion in every state.

After the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 ruling, the Pentagon announced new policies for service members seeking access to reproductive health care, including that it would cover some travel costs for service members seeking abortions and up to 21 days off to recover from such a procedure.

Tuberville, 68, is now using what would normally be a relatively seamless process of military confirmation as a protest of the Pentagon's policy, threatening not to confirm anyone until the Department of defense stops offering leave and travel funds for those seeking reproductive healthcare.

In a Monday briefing, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said that as many as 650 critical leadership positions might be vacant by year's end due to the stalling tactics. The last and only other time the Marine Corps operated without a confirmed commandant was in 1818, more than 100 years ago, according to the Department of Defense.

Saying that "smooth and timely transitions of confirmed leadership are critical to the defense of the United States and to the full strength of the most powerful fighting force in history," Singh added: "Stable and orderly leadership transitions are also vital to maintaining our unmatched network of alliances and partners; they are crucial for our military readiness."

Critics on either side of the aisle note that Tuberville's block of military confirmations comes at a time of escalating tensions with China and Russia. In May, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said, “I don’t support putting a hold on military nominations,” when asked about Tuberville’s stance.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in March Tuberville's tactics could lead to, "a real ripple effect downstream because now people can't move on to the next job and they can't leave the one that they're in, and they can't assume these new jobs of responsibility. And it absolutely — if it goes on too long, it could absolutely have an effect on U.S. military readiness around the world."

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Tuberville—a former college football coach who is mostly remembered in Alabama for leading Auburn University to an undefeated 2004 season—has been a controversial figure since entering the Senate in 2021.

In 2022, he compared descendants of enslaved people to criminals while at a rally for former President Donald Trump.

And on Monday, he made headlines when, in an interview with CNN, he pushed back against criticism of racist white nationalists, saying, “I call them Americans.”