Posted on 10/11/2002 7:22:27 AM PDT by The Anti-Democrat
SKIRMISHING in the Senate over President Bush's judicial nominees reached a new low this week.
It wasn't easy, not with the smear jobs performed on Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen earlier this year, denying them seats on federal appeals courts.
Yet this week's maneuverings by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., tops them all. They involve South Carolina's Strom Thurmond, whose long and storied Senate career is in its final chapter.
Thurmond, 99, is retiring at the end of the current congressional session. Leahy promised him the nomination of Dennis Shedd to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes South Carolina, would be voted on by the panel before the end of the session.
Shedd was due for an up-or- down vote in the committee this week. Judiciary's intricate rules apparently required it. No matter. Leahy abruptly pulled Shedd's nomination from the agenda, claiming it was contentious.
Shedd was nominated by Bush in June. That's June of 2001. He was a Judiciary staffer when Thurmond chaired the panel years ago. The American Bar Association pronounced him "well qualified" to serve as an appeals court judge -- its highest rating. South Carolina's other senator, Fritz Hollings, also supports Shedd's nomination, as many other Senate Democrats apparently would, given the chance.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee blocked Pickering and Owen from reaching the full Senate, where it's likely they would have earned a simple majority. In Shedd's case, Leahy won't even allow a committee vote, knowing, perhaps, that Shedd might otherwise clear the panel.
As we say, it's the lowest of lows in the history of the process by which America's federal judges are selected. The Senate, which fancies itself as a bastion of grace and good manners, has been debased for no good reason.
Leahy and his supporters should be ashamed. He has acted most ungraciously and in the process has further damaged the mechanisms used to fill the judiciary.
Thurmond, in perhaps the final committee speech of his illustrious career, put it best: "I took you at your word. In 40 years I have never been treated in such a manner. I am hurt and disappointed by your actions. I do not find your actions satisfactory."
Pretty much says it all.
Only a RINO would be surpised...
If the Democrats go down, its plain they plan on taking the whole system with them.
Pray the American people wise up, and soon.
The Dem's gang of criminals showed their true colors once again by breaking the law and then buying off the judges in NJ last week, and yet our team still insists on "playing fair" in MT. I'm now convinced that we will never learn, and that from here on the Dems will rule the country like Capone ruled Chicago.
You nailed it. The Demonrats will do *anything* to stay in power, while the Republicans are unwilling to use the power once they have it. It is truely sickening. I must admit though, that the Demonrats can always count on the OldDominantLiberalMedia to find excuses and cover for them, and to describe Republicans as evil slimers if they do anything at all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.