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Despite a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, President Obama is on pace to set a record for the fewest judges confirmed during a president's first year in the White House. So far, only six of Obama's nominees to the lower federal courts have won approval. By comparison, President George W. Bush had 28 judges confirmed in his first year in office, even though Democrats held a narrow majority for much of the year. President Clinton put 27 new judges on the bench in his first year. The slow pace of approving judges has gotten little attention while Democrats and...

A pattern of subversive activity towards the Roman Catholic Church by President Obama’s administration has been noticed by Catholic commentators during the past several months. On May 17th, President Obama spoke at the commencement ceremony for Notre Dame University, despite protests and condemnation by several U.S. Bishops. The opposition to Obama’s speaking at a Catholic university was due to his promises to remove restrictions on abortion, a practice considered morally wrong by the Roman Catholic Church. While it may be difficult for non-Catholics to understand the severity of refusing to accept Catholic teachings on abortion and contraception while claiming to...

On the eve of George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001, I cautioned fellow Democrats against "delaying or denying confirmation of nominees to cabinet and subcabinet posts." I argued on these pages that blocking executive nominees would weaken the presidency and be counterproductive for the opposition: "If a president cannot promptly place his chosen people in key offices, he can hardly be held fully responsible for the missteps of the administration." In the past few years, many Republican senators have agreed, saying that it is unacceptable to filibuster a nominee submitted to the Senate for its "advice and consent." Some Republicans...

What’s tougher for an American president: 1. Determining the status of highly-secret operations in an enemy state that is one of the world’s most closed societies; or 2. Checking someone’s tax returns submitted to an IRS that reports to you? The answer speaks for itself. But that answer has profound implications. Barack Obama is a president who rode to power in part on excoriating Pres. Bush for getting it wrong on WMD in Iraq. And yet . . .

WASHINGTON – No matter how careful he is, sooner or later President-elect Barack Obama is likely to make a bum nomination or two. "It's unavoidable," says Paul Light, a New York University professor and expert on presidential transitions. It may happen because a nominee has lied about his or her background to Obama's team, or because something that was dismissed as minor turns out to be a big deal. Whatever the reason, "These things are likely to pop up at any time — even though they are trying their darndest to make sure that doesn't happen," says George Mason University...

What's At Stake: Why Just One Judge? Because the nine justices on the Supreme Court only get there when the official YOU election appoint and confirm them. The next President will appoint the deciding vote on the Supreme Court to either overturn or continue Roe v. Wade... to restore the Constitutional guarantee of Life, or to allow the killing of innocent unborn children to continue. This election is America's last hope in this generation to reverse Roe v. Wade and send the issue back to the states, paving the way for parental notification laws before a teen has an abortion,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush nominated two new Republicans and one new Democrat to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday in an attempt to break a Senate confirmation deadlock that had paralyzed the regulatory agency. Bush resisted efforts to withdraw the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official whom he nominated in 2007 but who had not been able to win votes in the Senate to get confirmed. The White House said the latest compromise would permit a separate vote on von Spakovsky. The stalemate over von Spakovsky had left the six-member FEC without a quorum to conduct business...

Since Freepers know the answers to just about everything: What happens in modern times (as I know what used to happen, pre-Civil War) if a party's clear nominee---after the convention---has to drop out due to health, whatever? New primaries are not possible: do the party leaders pick someone new, or does the veep candidate automatically ascend to the top spot?

Democrats Ready to Politicize the Fed (condensed) ... David Kotok recently brought a very disturbing item to my attention, and feel I need to pass it on. Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut, ... is seriously hampering the ability of the Fed to respond to the current crisis and threatening the independence of the Fed in the process,... Basically, there are two vacant seats on the Fed. President Bush has nominated two very qualified people with distinguished records and backgrounds who have hands-on experience in real-world banking... Dodd refuses to allow these nominations, or any others, to move forward. Plus,...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's campaign Web site touts public education as a long-standing "top priority" of his, but the school year began this week with teachers and administrators still wondering who will be the next commissioner of education. That question mark is one among many with nearly 400 expired gubernatorial appointments this year alone to state boards, commissions and universities. Senators — worried that Perry is dodging their constitutional role of confirming most gubernatorial appointments — are crying foul. By Friday, 388 of Perry's appointments will have already expired so far this year, but only one in eight have...

Gen. Peter Pace -- the first Marine Corps officer to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- is being precipitously let go. In a surprise announcement last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Pace wouldn't be renominated to a second term. In his place, Adm. Mike Mullen, current chief of naval operations, would take over when Pace's term expires Sept. 30. As the highly qualified, deeply respected Pace is being ushered out the door, it is reasonable to wonder why.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2007 – Newman’s Own, the Fisher House Foundation, and the Military Times Media Group are inviting volunteer organizations that serve military families to compete for a share of $75,000 in grants. The Fisher House Foundation is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program that highlights and facilitates support among Americans and the corporate sector for the nation’s servicemembers. The volunteer organizations are asked to present an innovative plan to support military families. The plan garnering the most votes from the judges will earn $15,000 to put that plan into action. The judges will...

WASHINGTON (AP) Michigan Appeals Court Judge Henry Saad has withdrawn his nomination to the federal appeals court, ending a long quest to be seated on the bench amid a partisan fight over judicial appointments. Saad, of Bloomfield Hills, was nominated to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four times, most recently in 2005, but a Senate agreement reached last May made no commitment to ending the filibuster blocking his nomination. He had been opposed by Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Saad, 57, informed the White House on Wednesday that he was withdrawing his nomination, said Michigan Republican...

Conservatives on and off Capitol Hill are urging Senate Republican leaders to renew the push to nominate and confirm right-wing jurists to the federal bench just two weeks after Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Three conservative members of the Judiciary Committee, Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), and conservative activists are growing impatient with the pace of judicial nominations. Sessions and Republican activists say that there is a backlog of vacancies and that the Bush administration needs to act more quickly in sending conservative nominees to the Senate for consideration. In addition, they...

Look at George Washington's nomination of John Rutledge to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1795. If one were to play the qualification (rather than the DISqualification) game, Rutledge should have been easily confirmed. He had chaired the South Carolina delegation to the First Continental Congress in 1774, served as governor of South Carolina in 1779 (after serving as president of the South Carolina Republic from 1776 to 1778), was chosen by the state legislature to serve as the chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Chancery in 1784, and attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787 where...

I am a bit confused. Bush was re-elected by his conservative base on the understanding that he would appoint strict constructionist judges with traditional values. Bush chose Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O’Connor. Miers is pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, and is definitely not a judicial activist. Exactly the kind of person Bush’s base wanted. And all I have heard over the last week is wailing, crying, moaning, sulking, and general hell-raising from conservatives...... -- excerpt --

MOOSEMUSS. Yes, MOOSEMUSS. That is what came to mind when the discussion amongst the right about the Harriet Miers nomination went into full tilt yesterday…MOOSEMUSS. Hat tip to Mr. Atos for planting the seed with his Bangalore Torpedo piece, and after all the rancor yesterday, I thought, MOOSEMUSS. I don’t buy the theory that in an instant, that the President, who incidentally, got the GWOT right, and the John Roberts nomination right, who has Dick Cheney as his VP and Condi Rice as his SOS…blew a gasket and has gotten this completely wrong. I thought…maybe …MOOSEMUSS. I think that the...

Twenty-four hours before Chief Justice John Roberts's confirmation, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York took to the Senate floor and issued a threat: If the president, when replacing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, "sends us a nominee who is committed to an agenda of turning back the clock, . . . there will likely be a fight." Like John Kerry's "Bring it on," this may turn out to be all bluster and no bite. After all, Republicans hold a majority in the Senate. Not since LBJ's abortive elevation of Justice Abe Fortas to chief 37 years ago has a Supreme Court nominee faced...

As soon as Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement in June, Democrats called on the president to name a moderate "consensus" replacement that would preserve the balance of the court. Now they are at it again. By her voting record, Justice O'Connor was toe to toe with the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist 80% of the time, but where she parted with him, on key social issues such as Roe v Wade, is exactly where politically-minded Americans draw the battle lines. So naturally she has become the judicious voice of moderation for liberals. The president probably should have left...

Julie Myers is 36 years old, a lawyer and a political appointee to the Bush administration with limited executive experience. Yet, she is slated to become head of one of the nation's most critical security-related agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Myers appointment, in the wake of FEMA's disastrous handling of the Katrina Hurricane and the resignation of its chief, Michael Brown, has people from both sides of the political aisle raising hackles. "The Bush administration has barely rebounded from the resignation of horse show organizer Michael ‘Heck...

'Catholics need not apply’ must not become motto for government candidates, says HydeWashington DC, Aug. 01, 2005 (CNA) - In a letter sent to Senator Richard Durbin regarding what many see as a “religious litmus test” for Supreme Court nominee Judge John G. Roberts, Congressman Henry Hyde warned that ‘practicing Catholics need not apply’ must not become the motto of ‘religious bigots’ operating in the public square. As Judge Roberts faces what many see as an unjust line of scrutiny centered around his being Catholic, largely led by Senator Durbin, (himself a Catholic), Hyde said that “No one of our...

WASHINGTON -- With the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush, Democrats and liberals -- usually one and the same -- are again fastening their attention on a national organization composed mainly of libertarian conservative lawyers and judges called the Federalist Society. The Society is not open solely to adepts of the law. Others too can join. I myself have been a member in good standing for some years and can report that the Society exerts no secret demands on its members. I have not had to learn any secret handshake...

Refusing to relinquish her extended fifteen minutes of fame, Anita Hill is back in the news. After doing all she could to prevent a black man, Clarence Thomas, from becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Hill is now attacking President Bush's nomination of John Roberts, saying she fears his selection could lead to "an all-white-male Supreme Court." God forbid. Sadly, hardly anyone noticed her racist and sexist comments. The liberal press simply yawned, since white males remain the primary targets of abuse by journalists, academics and feminists. They have been victims of affirmative action, quotas and reverse discrimination. Hill knows this,...

(Virtual) Cracker Barrel Wisdom A reluctant glance in the mirror tells me my “pecs” have turned into drecks; my “abs” into flabs. “Hair today – gone tomorrow” is no longer a joke. I am - unequivocally and indisputably – an Old Geezer ; and, as such, am entitled to impart Cracker Barrel Wisdom. I see some of you young whelps are looking a mite puzzled , so I’ll explain. Back in the olden days,they used to have something called “General Stores”,and old-timers would sit around a pot-bellied stove, and dip into a big barrel of crackers while they swapped information,advice,...

WASHINGTON, July 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Initial liberal reactions to the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. bear a striking -- and amusing --resemblance to the left's reaction to the nomination of then-Judge David Souter in 1990, say members of the black conservative network Project 21 "This kind of reaction just goes to show that the liberals harbor a lot of preconceived notions about anyone nominated by a conservative president," said Project 21 member Donald Scoggins. "They'd probably have the same complaints about Ted Kennedy if President Bush nominated him to the High Court." In the July 25 Weekly...

LAURA BUSH APPEARED ON NBC'S Today show last Tuesday, speaking from a classroom in Cape Town, South Africa. She answered a couple of questions about the Supreme Court vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, volunteering that she "would really like for [her husband] to name another woman." Asked later that day about his wife's comment, President Bush replied that he had "talked to her yesterday. And listen, I get her advice all the time. I didn't realize she put this advice in the press. She did? Well, good. We're definitely considering people from all walks of...

Certain seasons or events have historically spawned their own lexicons which are unique to those events and used almost exclusively to describe them. Late in the college football season, some games have what are unfailingly called, “serious bowl implications.” Likewise vice-presidential candidates must possess ''gravitas'' and Super Bowls oddly acquire roman numerals. So. too. does the Supreme Court nomination process require its own terminology, especially when the president is a Republican. Over the next several weeks there are a number of ordinary words and phrases that will be used ad nauseam in reference to whomever President Bush submits to the...

An email I received today from TedKennedy.com. Dear (leezard), With the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the President faces a choice - further divide the country by succumbing to the pressure of his allies on the right, or unite the country by working with both parties in the Senate to appoint a consensus nominee, as Justice O'Connor was when President Reagan nominated her. We know the American people want this county to move forward, not backward, in terms of protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms that make our country great. Because the Supreme Court is often the last line...

With Sandra Day O’Connor’s recent resignation from the U.S. Supreme Court and the expected resignation of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, there is no shortage of talk about who should replace them. Senate liberals demand that the President “unite America” by nominating a moderate, consensus candidate. They further demand that the President consult with them and allow them to pre-approve the nominee. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argues that these nominations are “an opportunity for President Bush to bring the country together.” By this, Schumer means that the President should appoint the sort of judge that John Kerry would have appointed had...

WASHINGTON — The Senate can handle more than one Supreme Court nomination at a time if Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist decided to join Sandra Day O'Connor in retirement, a leading senator said Sunday. O'Connor has announced her retirement and speculation swirls about the future of the 80-year-old Rehnquist, who has thyroid cancer, and Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 85 and healthy. The Senate has had dual confirmation hearings before and "frankly, it can be done," said GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on President Bush's picks....

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...

The Supreme Court decision in the Kelo v. City of New London case and the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provide both the reason and opportunity for the president to nominate and Senate Republicans (and fair-minded Democrats, if there are any of them anymore) to confirm a true constitutional constructionist to the Supreme Court. The Kelo case, which has been the subject of numerous editorials in the past week, is possibly one of the most egregious rulings to be handed down by the Supreme Court since the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The court’s decision in that case excised a...

(The president) is widely expected to appoint a judicial conservative, but the crucial question for the country is what kind of judicial conservative. Judicial conservatism, after all, is not a monolithic movement: It is a catchphrase for very different approaches to constitutional interpretation that often lead to dramatically different results in cases ranging from affirmative action to abortion and states' rights. Several of the leading candidates said to be on Mr. Bush's short list - like Judge J. Michael Luttig of Virginia and Judge John Roberts of Washington - defy easy categorization. But it's clear that justices from each philosophical...

ON OCTOBER 23, 1987--a day that lives in conservative infamy--Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by a Democratic Senate. Now, 18 years later, George W. Bush has the chance to reverse this defeat, and to begin to fulfill what has always been one of the core themes of modern American conservatism: the relinking of constitutional law and constitutional jurisprudence to the Constitution. The restoration of constitutional government has been the one area in which modern conservatism has had the least success. From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, conservative economic policies have been (more or less) pursued,...

In light of the current Supreme Court vacancy to be filled and those upcoming, and since the words "advice/advise and consent" are being bandied about with veiled and blatant threats by the Democrats, the Founder's actual deliberations and decisions on this subject need to be recalled and re-stated. The Senate is Supposed to Advise and Consent, Not Obstruct and Delay I. The Framers of the Constitution Assigned to the President the Pre-Eminent Role in Appointing Judges. A. The President Alone Has The Power to Nominate Article II of the Constitution provides that the President "shall nominate, and by and with...

Justice O'Connor is retiring. Speculation on her replacement began long ago.

Senator Frist; "We have the constitutional option still on the table and I will take them to them floor. I will get this tradition restored. I will not compromise that principle period. I think the judicial principle is advice and consent...

Conservatives have good reason to be unhappy with the agreement announced last night concerning the Senate’s judicial-confirmation process. The agreement does not guarantee up-or-down votes on all of President Bush’s judicial nominees, nor does it restore the Senate’s unswerving 214-year tradition of majority vote for all judicial nominees. In addition, the agreement attempts to rewrite Article II of the Constitution, by giving the Senate an advise-and-consent role in the nomination, as well as the appointment, of judges (see here and here for more). Our objectives are still within reach, however. As one of the signatories to the agreement made clear...

Some Democrats say they began the filibusters to force Bush to consult with them and to select nominees with more moderate views. Yet both conservative and liberal senators and activists say that the 10 successful filibusters waged by Democrats have not swayed Bush, and may even have stiffened his resolve, raising the question of whether Democrats overplayed their hand.[. . .]Replacing Rehnquist with a conservative would not change the balance of a court that has voted 5-4 on many hot-button issues. But replacing a moderate or liberal would tilt the court to the right.[. . .]The fight over rules for...

During a debate on the Senate floor May 12, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) launched an assault on appellate court nominee Henry Saad, who is awaiting confirmation to the 6th Circuit. Reid’s attack included the suggestion that senators review Saad’s confidential FBI report to understand why Democrats oppose his confirmation. “Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “He’s one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree there is a problem there.”...

I had found a few interesting articles on the FILIBUSTER and Senate Obstructists and the History of the Filibuster and other such interesting facts that ( as I was expecting anyhow ) shut-down any liberal argument about trying to maintain to the TRADITION of Nominations getting an Up or Down vote. I hope you can use them.

It has now been reported that Barabara Boxer, liberal Senator from California, has put a 'hold' on the nomination of John Bolton. As far as I know, this is not even a 'rule' in the Senate (formally adopted by the votes of the Senators), it is simply a 'tradition'. And what is it? Its nothing more than the ability (accepted privilege) a single Senator, with no formal vote from anyone, to simply block - stop dead cold - a presidential nomination from going forward. This is not an act of 'democracy at work', this is not an act of 'advice...

Judge Brown and the new racismFor 200 years the Senate carefully considered the professional track record of any judge nominated for the federal bench. That changed five years ago when ranking Democrats decided to turn the Senate Judiciary Committee into their own personal meat grinder. Despite having nearly one hundred federal judgeships to fill, these Democrats resolved to torpedo most of President Bush's nominations. This partisan blood oath-as opposed to careful consideration of the Jurist's record-now decides who presides over our federal courts. At least one major implication is that the dearth of federal judges (one eighth of all federal...

Paul Begala, former Clinton administration propagandist, warns Democrats in a message from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), "the Republicans are injecting religion into the battle over President Bush's effort to pack the federal courts with right-wing rejects and are going too far." Begala continues, "Lord knows we progressives -- from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Jimmy Carter -- look to divine inspiration.  We revere and respect people of faith.  But we will not tolerate a phony holy war designed to pack the courts with judges who want to turn the clock back to the 1930's." Begala takes Senator...

IN RECENT DAYS I interviewed Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, and Ralph Neas, executive director of People for the American Way. Together these two are the architects of the policy of unyielding obstruction by Democrats of George Bush's judicial nominees. It is difficult to overstate their influence on the Democratic caucus: They are widely considered to be the hands steering Democratic policy on judges. Both blew the usual rhetorical smoke about how well President Bush is doing with his judicial nominations--Bush has by far the lowest approval rate to the appeals court for modern times for a...

WASHINGTON, April 7 - Last fall, when the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a $9 million study of how infants and toddlers are exposed to and affected by bug sprays, carpet cleaners and other pesticides and chemicals in their homes, it sought and found a generous partner in the American Chemistry Council, which generally seeks less stringent regulations for its members' products. The goal of the study, the agency said, was to "fill data gaps" in the scientific knowledge regulators use to make decisions about which pesticides can go on the nation's hardware shelves. The E.P.A. offered parents as much as...

Majority Republicans in the Senate have long been frustrated by minority Democrats' filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees. So frustrated, in fact, they have considered employing a rarely used tactic to get those nominees a fair vote. But now some Republicans are wavering, and it isn't at all clear the so-called "nuclear option" favored by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is still an option. In fact, says one analysis, the issue could come down to an early 2008 presidential primary of sorts between Frist and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. According to a report in the Washington Times, Frist...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist does not have firm support among his caucus to employ the so-called "nuclear option" for dislodging the Democratic filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees. Of the 55 Republicans in the chamber, at least six are undecided or adamantly opposed to the plan of using the rare parliamentary procedure to end the filibusters with a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes normally required. "I am very concerned about the overuse of the filibuster," said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who said she remains undecided. "But ....

In his Sunday column, George Will makes his most comprehensive argument yet against Senate Republicans' modifying the filibuster rule to prevent its use against judicial nominees. I respond to some of his major points below. Will writes: Some conservatives call filibusters of judicial nominations unconstitutional because they violate the separation of powers by preventing the president from doing his constitutional duty of staffing the judiciary. But the Senate has the constitutional role of completing the staffing process that the president initiates. Of course, this begs the question. If a majority of the senators decide that they want to change one...

You telling me, Justice Kennedy, that they didn't execute juvenile murderers in the time when the Constitution was enacted? I don't belive it. (Actually Kennedy doesn't even ask that question -- he doesn't care what the people who wrote the constitution believed). What this travesty of a decision shows is that the NUCLEAR OPTION is ESSENTIAL to get us some decent judges on federal courts. If the Republican senators are afraid of the Democrats, then it's time for them to be made even MORE AFRAID of the REPUBLICAN GRASS ROOTS!! MAYBE A MARCH ON WASHINGTON, TARGETING OUR OWN REPBULICAN SENATORS...