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The new Democrat-controlled Senate has confirmed just 29 percent of President Bush's nominations so far this year, leaving many government agencies without key officials and slowing work to a crawl in some departments. Since Jan. 7, the president has sent 229 major nominations to the Senate, but just 66 have been confirmed. Those figures exclude U.S. attorneys, marshals and judges, but the White House says those nominations also have an alarmingly low confirmation rate — just 18 of the 46 (39 percent) sent to the Senate this year have been approved. http://washingtontimes.com/article/20070702/NATION/107020057/1002

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On the Nomination (Confirmation Thomas M. Hardiman, of Pennsylvania, to be U.S. Circuit Judge ) Vote Number: 78 Vote Date: March 15, 2007, 05:01 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed Nomination Number: PN8 Nomination Description: Thomas M. Hardiman, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Vote Counts: YEAs 95 NAYs 0 Not Voting 5

Why is Lincoln Chafee Now Simply Not Removed from the Senate Foreign Relations Commuttee? Assuming another lame duck Senator doesn't decide to play snake, Bolton's appointment to the UN then finally passes passes out of committee on a 9 to 8 vote. Why not? If Robert Byrd wanted to do something nobody ever heard of while his party was in the majority, he'd unearth some parliamentary maneuver to get the job done. Even the stupid party can't ignore factual procedures thrust in their face -- unless they don't want to hear it. C'mon. There must be a way to do...

Yesterday with 46 confirmations, the 109th Senate had confirmed the fewest judges than any Congress since 1963-1964, in the wake of the Kennedy assassination. Today with 50 confirmations, the 109th Congress has confirmed the fewest judges than any Congress since 1973-1974, in the shadow of the Watergate presidency…. [T]he last time the Senate confirmed two Supreme Court nominations (1993-1994, 103rd), they also confirmed 127 other Clinton-appointed judges…. [T]he last time that a Congress (1985-1986, 99th) confirmed two Supreme Court justices in the first two years of a second term president, with the same party controlling the WH and the Senate,...

Watching the Alito confirmation hearings is much like watching an old Matlock rerun, except with Barney Fife doing the questioning… If it weren’t so infuriating, it would be about as interesting as watching paint dry. Apparently, I need to point out a few things to my friends across the aisle, not the least of which is the fact that a seat on the Supreme Court is NOT an elected position, but rather a presidential appointed position based upon the judicial qualifications of the candidate, not their personal ideologies.

An Open Letter to Senator Schumer Dear Senator : You have been quoted in the press as being opposed to the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court because it would “divide – not unite Americans”. I don’t mean to sound sarcastic, but I should have thought you’d be aware America is ALREADY a “divided” nation – and, if you are the Liberal you claim to be, one would think you would want it to STAY that way ! We Americans differ on a LOT of issues. For example , you have long been famous ( or infamous )...

It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family. There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy...

A historic meltdown occurred in the summer of 1987. Washington, D.C. became a kiln of sweltering heat, smothering both man and beast. The blinding sun seared skin, the inside of noses singed with every breath, and anything within 50 feet of the sizzling sidewalks seemed to bake. But the truly toxic heat bellowed from the chambers of the U.S. Senate as Ted Kennedy took the floor. That summer found me “popping pregnant” -- 7 months and counting -- so I remember the heat well. I also was expectant with hope when President Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to fill a...

There seem to be an awfully lot of opinions about the Filibuster Deal. This is because nobody really knows how it will work out in the end. They may think they do, however, and depending on where they are on a matrix in which the x-axis goes from liberal to conservative, and the y-axis from optimist to pessimist – depending on where they are on that matrix, they're either delighted or seriously wicked off. The only guy who's got an independent reason not to like it is Bill Frist, because it got done without him and therefore stands as a...

The Peter Principles: Sanity clause By Peter Roff UPI Senior Political Analyst Published May 9, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Within the next two weeks, say those in the know on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is going to pull the trigger on the so-called constitutional option and break the logjam over judicial nominations. Unless something happens. Frist and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who refuses to yield on the filibuster as a matter of party policy, are staring across the abyss at each other with no way to move ahead without falling in. They are also limited...

Almost 100 percent of the mental energy in Congress, and at least 50 percent of the White House mental energy is currently being expended trying either to destroy or protect John Bolton and Tom DeLay. A man from Mars would presume that things in America must be ship shape, and the world had settled into a long and restful peacefulness. Otherwise, surely, the American public would be looking with reproach and indignation at their leaders using their often misguided, but considerable, mental energies to brawl over Washington jobs if there were other matters with a higher claim on their attention....

A prominent member of the Senate leadership recently described a Supreme Court justice as "a disgrace." An equally prominent member of the leadership of the House of Representatives on the other side of the political aisle has characterized another justice's approach to adjudication as "incredibly outrageous." These excoriations follow other examples of personalized attacks on members of the judiciary by senior political figures. So it is time to take a deep breath, step back, and inject a little perspective into the recent heated rhetoric about judges and the courts. We might start by getting a firm grip on the reality...

Dear Friend: A day of decision is upon us. Whether it was the legalization of abortion, the banning of school prayer, the expulsion of the 10 Commandments from public spaces, or the starvation of Terri Schiavo, decisions by the courts have not only changed our nation's course, but even led to the taking of human lives. As the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left has been repudiated in almost every recent election, the courts have become the last great bastion for liberalism. For years activist courts, aided by liberal interest groups like the ACLU, have been quietly working under the...

ASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate approved former New York City lawyer Paul Crotty Monday to become a federal judge Monday, voting 95-0 to place him on the bench in the district including Manhattan, the Bronx, and its northern suburbs. Crotty, who worked for both former mayors Ed Koch

Since 1994, the Democrat Party has managed to lose control of the House, the Senate, and the White House. In the face of their obviously diminishing power and influence, Democrats have become a party whose activities and pronouncements betray a growing desperation. As they founder, casting about broadly, seeking remedies to reverse their diminishing influence, it is no surprise that their attention has come to rest on the courts. It can be argued that Democrats see their only remaining hope for holding onto political power in mounting a strenuous resistance to President Bush's federal judicial nominees. The court system, overpopulated...

As the Senate Judiciary Committee voted today on the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, we hear a speech by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh on torture from Guantanamo to Abu Gharib to Vietnam.Hersh is the author of 'Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Gharib.' He spoke last month at the Wise Free Synagogue in New York.'The amazing thing is that we have been taken over by a cult of eight or nine neo-conservatives that have somehow grapped the government.' 'Just how and why they did it so efficiently, we will have to wait for much later...

“Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed.” Some people, and especially lots of liberal media pundits, seem to live by that philosophy. As I look forward to the New Year I believe that a spirit of optimism and hope is appropriate. I personally prefer great expectations instead of cynical pessimism any day. So here are some good things I’m hoping for in 2005. On the domestic front, I believe that we are going to see the influence of real, true blue conservatives continue to increase as we work overtime to build and strengthen our base nationwide. The fact is,...

WASHINGTON -- Despite talk of changes on the Supreme Court stirred up by the news that Chief Justice William Rehnquist has cancer, many court observers believe the sheer intensity of confirmation battles in the Senate in recent years would make it difficult for any president to put an ideological stamp on what is now a moderate-to-conservative court. Barring an unexpected landslide, both parties will have enough clout in the Senate to block judicial nominations using filibuster rules. And people on both sides of the bitter confirmation divide say they hope that fact alone would motivate either President Bush or John...

A brewing rebellion by conservative activists has prompted Senate Republican leaders to plan to devote at least 30 straight hours of debate next week to their bid to confirm a handful of judicial nominees being blocked by Democrats. The Republicans are bringing in food and cots for the "Justice for Judges Marathon," scheduled for Wednesday night through Friday morning. Despite the showiness, neither side expects the spectacle to change a single vote or resolve the bitter impasse. Like previous acts in the high-decibel fight over the lifetime judgeships, the planned all-nighter is unlikely to stir the typical voter's attention or...

<p>The left continues to manipulate black partisans by pitting them against each other.</p> <p>Based on my skin color, white liberals generally presume that I'm a left-leaning, Congressional Black Caucus-supporting, racial preference-loving, pro-abortion pal. I usually excuse such transgressions because it's natural to quickly size up people based on information readily available. When I rebut these presumptions and share my deeply held conservative beliefs, however, I get open-mouthed stares.</p>

Yesterday National Review Online reported continuing Republican frustration with Majority Leader Tom Daschle's decision to shut down the confirmation process in the Senate. In the last six weeks, no Bush-administration nominee has been confirmed in the full Senate, leading to major backlogs in filling administration posts. In the justice field alone, there are a total of 31 nominees, including 15 candidates for the federal judiciary, 13 United States marshals, two U.S. attorneys, and one Justice Department official, waiting for confirmation votes. There are no problems with their nominations; all have been approved by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy's Judiciary Committee. It's...