Senate Confirms Raggi as U.S. Appeals Court Judge

TBO ^ | 9/20/02 | Jesse Holland

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

The Senate has unanimously agreed to promote New York City judge Reena Raggi to the a federal appellate court as it debates what to do with the rest of President Bush's judicial nominees before adjourning for the year. The Democratic-controlled Senate on Friday approved Raggi's nomination on an 85-0 vote.

The 51-year-old Raggi will sit on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a former New York U.S. attorney, and has served as a U.S. District Court judge in New York since her nomination by President Reagan in 1987.

The 2nd Circuit, based in New York City, covers New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

The Senate has confirmed 78 Bush nominees to the federal appellate and district courts so far, with 49 nominees still awaiting a vote.

Two nominations have been rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee: Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi.

Raggi's nomination approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the same day that it rejected Owen's nomination. Committee Democrats called Raggi a mainstream Republican, while accusing Owen of being a right-wing ideologue.

The Senate committee is considering three other politically-charged appeals court nominees: U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Shedd of South Carolina, who wants a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; University of Utah professor Michael McConnell, who wants a seat on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada, who wants a seat on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

Shedd and McConnell are waiting for votes in the Judiciary Committee, while Estrada will face committee questioning on Thursday.

[writmeister]

She will have to recuse herself from any appeal. That is pretty standard when a trial judge is elevated to the appellate court.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Ra Renate ractually ronrirmed Rerubrican Reena Raggi?

Scooby-dooby-doo!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Didn't Chuck Schumer, poster child for the National Alliance, say he'd beat Bush's nominees into submission. Oh, that's right, he said that about guns...