Posted on 11/21/2006 1:22:33 PM PST by new yorker 77
President Bush renominated six previously blocked candidates for federal appeals courts Wednesday, triggering the first real battle with ascendant Democrats since the midterm elections and signaling what could be the start of a fierce two-year struggle over the shape of the federal judiciary.
The move heartened conservatives who worried that Bush would scale back his ambition to move courts to the right and outraged liberals who called it a violation of the spirit of bipartisanship promised since Democrats captured Congress. Both sides saw it as a possible harbinger for the remainder of the Bush presidency, particularly if a Supreme Court vacancy opens.
The decision to send back the six nominees, along with four new candidates for the bench, was a provocative maneuver intended to send a signal that Bush does not plan to cower in the face of an opposition Congress because the Senate almost certainly will not act on them in the lame-duck session that adjourns next month. If Bush wants to keep pushing for these nominations, he will have to submit them again in January, when the Senate reconvenes with Democrats in control.
....
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said none of the six will be confirmed. "It's a real slap in the face," he said by telephone. "It basically makes you think the talk of bipartisanship is just talk."
....
Now he appears ready to test that proposition. None of the six nominees resubmitted Wednesday received a Senate floor vote: Michael Wallace for the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; William Haynes and Terrence Boyle Jr. for the Fourth Circuit; William Myers and Norman Randy Smith for the Ninth Circuit; and Peter Keisler for the D.C. Circuit.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
FYI
Well, good for you, Mr. Bush.
I would like to hear from the Great Republican Senator Phil I. Buster
Bipartisanship in action ...
I doubt that any of the six will even make it out of committee now that the Democrats are running it. The Republicans sat on Clinton's judges his last two years in expectation of a GOP win in 2000, I imagine the Democrats will pull the same thing in expectation of Hillary in the White House in 2008.
Maybe a dumb question here...
But are those nominations for the upcoming new Congress or could they potentially be voted upon now?
If Bush tries to ram these nominees thru, the Dems could potentially filibuster.
But in this most recent Congress, the Dems threatened filibuster - but didn't actually go forward with it.
I wonder if it'd be possible to pass some of these nominees thru committee, move their nominations out on to the floor and dare the Dems to do a real stand-up filibuster?
Anyone?
Just shut down the Senate with a filibuster of everything the Dems try to do.
Should have done this before the election.
For too long Congress has been run like a gentlemen's club with crooks on one side and fools on the other. Sometimes they get bipartisan and agree on crooked foolishness.
Bring it on, Chuck.
Your assinine tricks with the Judges were just what we needed in 2004. With Stun Gun Ginzberg and John Paul "The Pope" Stevens ready to hang up their robes of tyrany, you may have as many as two court nominees your blocking by 2008.
Good luck selling that act to the American public.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
He did.
There nominations were returned this summer and fall.
Boyle has be nominated five times now.
People were too busy complaining to care about judges.
Should have done this in August, made the Dems filibuster and given the GOP a national issue to campaign on.
Well, if you can't manage to get a particular judge through with 55 Senators, it isn't exactly a shock that you aren't going to be able to get him through with 49!
Let the Dems filibuster now so that Republicans can return the favor on other issues in the next session.
Pat Buchanan and Chris Matthews told me so.
Not to forget, approx. 50% of the votes in 2006 were from (D) voters, and they'll agree with whatever their told....
No intelligence or common sense enters the equation when voting straight (D) ticket...
Chairman Arlen couldn't find the time.
Don't blame Bush for this one.
MSNBC Conservative?
a.k.a The JUMBO Shrimp of politics.
Allowing Scottish Law Specter to head the Judiciary Committee was a major error by Frist.
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