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.

[Soul Seeker]

Number One- He has recess appointed Justices

Number Two- Those recess appointments are only good (at max) for two years. Hardly the outcome we wish.

Number Three- The President is only in office four more years. Recess appointments are NOT the long term solution.

While I was promoting the idea of recess appointments, with further thought, it's a feel good option that does nothing to fix the Senate nor appoint these Justices to life terms. What we NEED is to keep the heat on the Senate and force them to deal with the problem now. So NO recess appointments. Make these filibusters an anchor around their neck. Make the Republicans learn to function as a Majority. make it an election weight around the necks of the Dems and seven mavericks.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

If Bush were to recess appoint Bork, as I understand it, the recess appointment would become permanent if the Senate doesn't vote it down within a certain number of months. This is an easy way to bust filibusters. But well, it wouldn't lead to so much discovery of who the jerks are in the senate. [Sigh]

[jaydubya2]

extraordinary circumstances

[Soul Seeker]

WAY TO GO MR. PRESIDENT!

Slam the 14 Nitwits and Dems!

[MrNatural]

In football, this offensive tactic is referred to as 'flooding the zone' and puts great pressure on the demoncrat's defence:

1) If they try to block them all, as they would dearly love to do, they have to say that they are all a case of extraordinary circumstances. Even the RINO 7 would have to agree that the dems had broken the deal, and it was time to consider the rules change.

2)If the dems decide to concentrate their fire on the most conservative few and let the rest pass without a fight, they face the anger of the radical base, who will see the approval of a large number of conservative judges as 'knuckling under' to George Bush.

Clearly, GWB is still on the attack.

[BroncosFan]

W's redeeming quality -- he's stubborn.

[conservativecorner]

I'm right there with ya on loving it. I guess they misunderestimated President Bush once again.

[traviskicks]

Janice Rogers for SCOTUS (HEAD JUSTICE!):


Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible.
- CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown

We no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it. We demand more. Big government is not just the opiate of the masses. It is the opiate. The drug of choice for multinational corporations and single moms; for regulated industries and rugged Midwestern farmers and militant senior citizens.
- CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown

The quixotic desire to do good, be universally fair and make everybody happy is understandable. Indeed, the majority's zeal is more than a little endearing. There is only one problem with this approach. We are a court.
- CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown

Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase.
- CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown

The public school system is already so beleaguered by bureaucracy; so cowed by the demands of due process; so overwhelmed with faddish curricula that its educational purpose is almost an afterthought.
- CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown

[conservativecorner]

If I could vote it would certainly be her as my choice. Let's show who the real racists are when it comes to advancement for people of color. The quotes you supplied, and thank you for these, are tonic to my mind and eyes. We do indeed have jurists that get it.

[RayStacy]

So far, so good, I guess. Again, thanks for the tip.

[StoneGiant]

The Democrats are gonna need a Whaaaambulance

 

[Cboldt]

I believe all of the nominations listed below will come to the floor of the Senate at some point in the next 6-8 weeks. The DEMs can drop their juvenile and sophomoric tactic of using cloture to refuse to vote (cloture is supposed to be used when a Senator doesn't know where he stands yet, not to keep from voting althogether), in which case the "Constitutional Nuclear Byrd option" has no need to come out of its box. Or, they can refuse to vote ("filibuster," in the vernacular), in which case all hell will break lose in the Senate.

Summary of Circuit Court Nominations

F = 7 subjected to failed cloture motions in 108th Congress
4 = "1 of 4" that DEMs offered to let GOP choose which 3 to dump
S = Positive mention in Specter's May 9, 2005 speech

M = MOU of 14 will not vote against cloture
m = MOU of 14 makes no promise regarding cloture
R = Reid indicates desire to filibuster

C = Out of committee & on the Senate's Executive Calendar
U = Unanimous consent to debate - date TBD
D = Democrats offer to debate - date TBD
v = Debate and vote scheduled
V = Vote -on the nomination- concluded

       --S  --  ---  Boyle, Terrence W.       (4th Cir)
       ---  -R  ---  Haynes, William James II (4th Cir)
       F4S  M-  CUV  Owen, Priscilla          (5th Cir)
       F-S  --  CU-  Griffin, Richard A.      (6th Cir)
       F-S  --  CU-  McKeague, David W.       (6th Cir)
       --S  --  -D-  Neilson, Susan Bieke     (6th Cir)
       F--  mR  ---  Saad, Henry W.           (6th Cir)
       F4S  mR  C--  Myers, William Gerry III (9th Cir)
       F4S  M-  CU-  Pryor, William H.        (11th Cir)
       F4S  M-  CUv  Brown, Janice Rogers     (D.C. Cir)
       --S  --  CU-  Griffith, Thomas B.      (D.C. Cir)
       ---  -R  ---  Kavanaugh, Brett M.      (D.C. Cir)

Last updated May 29, 2005

Owen: Cloture passed 81-18 on May 24, Confirmed 56-43 on May 25.
Brown: Cloture motion filed May 26. Debate starting 2PM June 6.
Brown: Cloture vote scheduled for noon June 7.
Pryor: Cloture motion filed May 26.
Griffin: Reported out of Committee May 26.
McKeague: Reported out of Committee May 26.

-> Cloture Motions for 108th Congress
-> List of Nominations in the 109th Congress Judiciary Committee
-> Senate Executive Calendar (changes each business day)
-> Senate Roll Call Votes - 109th Congress
-> Specter's Speech of May 9, 2005 (109th Congress - Pages S4632 - S4636)
-> Senators' Memorandum of Understanding - May 23, 2005
-> Reid's agreement of May 24, 2005 (S5857)
-> Brown & Pryor cloture motions of May 26, 2005 (S6061)
-> Order of Business for June 6, 2005 (S6065)
-> AP Report Reid wants to filibuster Haynes & Kavanaugh - May 28, 2005
-> Fox News Report Reid will filibuster Saad & Myers - May 29, 2005
-> Boyle was nominated to 4th Cir. in 1991 too, by GHWB

[MJY1288]

LOL, That's a good one!!

[Cicero]

Yes, it's past time to get moving on this.

The available time to put these appointments through is getting shorter and shorter, and the Democrats know it. They've dragged their feet for four and a half years, and they aren't about to stop now, unless it is crammed down their throats.

[Cboldt]

... as I understand it, the recess appointment would become permanent if the Senate doesn't vote it down within a certain number of months.

US Constitution, Article II, Section 2 - recession commissions shall expire at the end of their (Senate's) next session.

[kevkrom]

I suspect GW would be a great poker player

He is. There are plenty of stories about how he regularly trounces expert poker players.

[Mo1]

The Democrats are gonna need a Whaaaambulance

And I'm gonna need a case of popcorn

This is gonna be fun to watch :0)

[Crimson Elephant]

I still say Graham or DeWine is a mole (maybe both of them)..possibly Warner....to get inside the "moderate" camp...these new judges slam down the pipe and when the Dems break it..suddenly as many as THREE of the GOP who agreed to this call a press conference, go on Meet the Press and declare they were "screwed" by the Democrats...then the nuclear option is initiated and BOOM.

I tell you, this all smells of strategery. Graham especially was acting like he wanted to say something, but couldn't.

[My2Cents]

Why was there no activity this week?

Many Americans stretch a three-day weekend into four days. Congress stretches a three-day weekend into a whole week.

[StoneGiant]

I still say Graham or DeWine is a mole (maybe both of them)..possibly Warner....to get inside the "moderate" camp...these new judges slam down the pipe and when the Dems break it..suddenly as many as THREE of the GOP who agreed to this call a press conference, go on Meet the Press and declare they were "screwed" by the Democrats...then the nuclear option is initiated and BOOM.

I tell you, this all smells of strategery. Graham especially was acting like he wanted to say something, but couldn't.

 

Perhaps the EVIL KARL ROVE is involved?