Posted on 09/08/2004 10:32:09 AM PDT by Dan from Michigan
U.S. Senate committee holds hearing for final Michigan appeals court nominee
9/8/2004, 12:42 p.m. ET
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite the objections of Democratic senators, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday for Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Susan Bieke Neilson, the last of four Michigan judges President Bush has nominated to a federal appeals court.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Neilson is an "outstanding candidate" with the highest rating from the American Bar Association. But her chances of getting approval from the full Senate are uncertain unless Hatch reaches an agreement with Michigan's Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.
"I think it's a shame we're in this mess because Michigan suffers," Hatch said.
Levin and Stabenow helped prevent Senate votes on Bush's three other nominees to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July. They object to the Bush nominees because Republicans blocked two of President Clinton's nominees from Michigan, including one who waited four years for a hearing.
Levin and Stabenow were scheduled to testify Wednesday but didn't come to the hearing for Neilson. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the ranking Democrat on the committee, chastised Hatch for breaking an unspoken Senate rule by holding hearings in the weeks between Labor Day and the Nov. 2 election.
"This is not the time to press ahead with another nomination to the 6th Circuit without resolving this impasse," Leahy said.
Hatch said he met Tuesday with Michigan's senators and offered to add two seats to the federal court system — one at the district court level and one at the appeals court level — and fill them with Clinton's nominees. In exchange, the senators would have to allow votes on Bush's four nominees to the 6th Circuit Court and two nominees to a federal district court.
Hatch said Levin and Stabenow turned down the deal because they didn't want to allow a vote on Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad, one of Bush's four nominees to the 6th Circuit Court. Levin and Stabenow have expressed concerns about Saad's temperament. Neither Levin nor Stabenow was immediately available to comment Wednesday.
The Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court hears cases from Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio.
Well... if the Senate keeps this up, it'll get to the point where there are NO new judicial appointments until one of the Parties gets 60 seats in the Senate.
Orifice Hatch is an embarrassment to the GOP;
why in the world would we want two of CLINTON's nominees on the federal bench???
Term Limits is the only answer with these lifers hanging on like they do.
Any relation to Dick Durbin (D-Ill)?
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