Bush Poised to Nominate Dozens For Judgeships, GOP Insiders Say [FILIBUSTER BUSTER]

Washington Post ^ | June 3, 2005 | Peter Baker

[conservativecorner]

The White House is preparing to send a raft of new judicial nominations to the Senate in the next few weeks, according to Republican strategists inside and outside the administration -- a move that could challenge the durability of last week's bipartisan filibuster deal and reignite the political warfare it was intended to halt.

The Bush administration has been vetting candidates for 30 more federal district and appeals court vacancies that have been left open for months while the Senate battled over previous nominations stalled by Democrats. Now that Democrats have agreed not to filibuster any new candidates except in "extraordinary circumstances," Republicans are eager to test the proposition.

"Republicans feel this is a good moment to move forward with judicial nominations," said Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, a group formed by C. Boyden Gray, who was White House counsel under President Bush's father, to support the current president's judicial appointments. "It's time to move on and also to get past the Clinton period" when Democrats salted the federal judiciary with more liberal appointments.

[conservativecorner]

GO PRESIDENT BUSH!!

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

[MJY1288]

The Democrats are gonna need a Whaaaambulance

[goldstategop]

Body slam them left, center and right. The Democrats will have to filibuster them all. And they would look silly claiming that's "extraordinary circumstances."

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[EmilyGeiger]

Oh, how absolutely savvy! But I thought Bush was too dumb to think of something like this? I LOVE it!

[PMCarey]

a move that could challenge the durability of last week's bipartisan filibuster deal and reignite the political warfare it was intended to halt.

Heh-heh. Gotta love the MSM. Yup, nominating judges is DIVISIVE tactic. The "deal" was designed to stop things like that.

[Enterprise]

CHAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGEEEE!

[linkinpunk]

I'm ready to rumble.

This is what I've been waiting for.

[aynrandfreak]

I hope they're hardcore conservatives from South Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

The dems(real commies) never know any shame. They will filibuster again and use the unfamous quote," Well, it was not written in stone." This will be their justification in an attempt to cover their subterfuge and deceit. NSNR

[kevkrom]

But wait... I thought we were all supposed to hate Frist for letting the Democrats (and RINOs) "get away" with filibustering nominees. You mean it isn't over yet? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

[linkinpunk]

From the article:

Rushton said he expects "a large swath" of nominations in the next few weeks unless Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist or another Supreme Court justice decides to step down at the end of the term later this month, an event that would throw current plans out the window.

[kabar]

Bush can only nominate judges to existing vacancies. There are plenty of vacancies, which need to be filled sooner rather than later. The WP's headline for this article makes it sound like a GOP attack or plot.

"Of 45 federal court vacancies, Bush has named nominees for 14. Except in one case, he has sent no new names all year, instead resubmitting nominations that had been blocked in the previous congressional session."

It is time for Bush and the GOP-controlled Senate to get these judges nominated and confirmed.

[joesbucks]

So why were the friendly voices in talk radio, the frinedly writers in the press and all the other conservative pundits so upset when in fact this seems to play into the Presidents hand? I remember hearing the interview between Sean and Frist and Sean bellyaching about how Frist lost power and how this hurt the process.

[conservativecorner]

I certainly don't blame Frist anymore. What McCain and the other back stabbers did was a pure political move to hurt Frist and the President. I blame McCain and the others including Lott who was also very involved in this treachery. Conservatives will get their pound of political flesh from all these back stabbing RINOS!!

[RayStacy]

Can somebody out there update me, please. Last I heard, we got one of the female judges through. Is that all? And more importantly -- are all the others still supposed to get up or down votes as the optimists predicted, or are they not going to, as the pessimists predicted. Thank you kindly.

[TonyInOhio]

So why were the friendly voices in talk radio, the frinedly writers in the press and all the other conservative pundits so upset when in fact this seems to play into the Presidents hand?

Becuase the Democrats, undoubtedly, will renege on the deal, blocking or filibustering nominees based on "extraordinary circumstances". They are trusting that McCain, DeWine, and Graham lack the intestinal fortitude to vote for the Constitutional Option.

Their trust is well-founded.

[weepnomore]

Is there any chance that President Bush would appoint Ted Olsen to the Supreme Court ?

If the Democrats chose to filibuster such a fine, intelligent man who has lost so much, it would speak volumes about them. . .& memories of 9/11 would come flooding back.

He maybe wouldn't want to go through the process. . . though he seems to be a very strong man.

[EmilyGeiger]

Good question. But I do like how Bush maneuvers around every new situation presented to him. He's making those 7 Pubs look like the fools we all know them to be for their grandstanding antics. I truly hope he does this.