Posted on 11/12/2002 7:00:17 PM PST by GeneD
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — Democrats who had been using their slim majority in the Senate to block several of President Bush's judicial candidates are expected to give way some on Thursday and allow the confirmation of two appeals court nominees, senior Congressional aides said today.
Thursday's vote will put on vivid display the impending shift in power in the Senate from Democrats to Republicans and how it will enhance Mr. Bush's ability to shape the courts.
The two candidates who are scheduled to be voted on on Thursday by the Judiciary Committee are among about a dozen appeals court candidates whose fates would have remained in doubt had the Republicans not retaken the Senate.
The two are Dennis W. Shedd, a federal trial judge nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., and Prof. Michael McConnell of the University of Utah, nominated to the 10th Circuit, in Denver. Judge Shedd was a former aide to Senator Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina Republican who complained on the Senate floor last month that the delay on that nomination was unconscionable.
Senate Democrats who were once emboldened by their ability to block judicial choices of Mr. Bush that they deemed too conservative face a new reality in January. They will become the minority party and face an abrupt loss of influence. The committee will shift to Republican control, and the new chairman, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, will also decide how to divide staff resources.
One Democratic aide said the Thursday vote on the two nominees was a gesture of good will. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who will relinquish the chairman's seat in several weeks to Mr. Hatch, scheduled the session and Democratic aides said they expected the two candidates to be approved.
"Once the election returns were in, this became the obvious way to go," one Democratic aide said.
Republicans said today that they recognized the agreement to vote less as a gesture of good will than as an appeal to Senator Hatch to be kind as he allocates committee and staff resources.
In addition, approving the two nominees could give the Democrats greater credibility in opposing other Bush nominees later.
In negotiations this week, Republicans tried to persuade the Democrats to include a vote on Miguel Estrada, a lawyer who has argued many cases before the Supreme Court and who has been nominated for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, widely regarded as second in importance only to the Supreme Court. Republicans are eager to have Mr. Estrada in place on the appeals court as soon as possible to make him a more credible candidate for the Supreme Court.
Democrats had hoped to block Mr. Estrada's confirmation but now concede he should be easily confirmed next year after Mr. Bush renominates him.
Committee Democrats had asserted that Mr. Estrada is a conservative ideologue and demanded that the White House turn over to the committee his internal opinions when Mr. Estrada was an assistant solicitor general in the Justice Department.
The White House refused to provide the documents, and the ensuing dispute allowed Democrats to delay scheduling a vote. But a senior White House official said this week that the issue was now moot with Republican control of the Senate.
In addition to Mr. Estrada next year, there will be other battles over judgeships. White House officials have said that President Bush also intends to renominate Judge Priscilla Owen, a member of the Texas Supreme Court who was defeated in a party-line vote for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans.
A spokesman for Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican who will become majority leader next year, said the administration would also renominate Charles W. Pickering Sr., the other Bush candidate defeated outright during the Democrats' period of control.
"Senator Lott fully intends to bring up Judge Pickering's nomination again next year," said Ron Bonjean, his spokesman. Judge Pickering, a federal trial judge in Mississippi, was also rejected on a party-line vote for a seat on the Fifth Circuit.
Democrats surprised themselves over the last year in holding together and defeating Judge Pickering and Justice Owens while delaying other nominations. As the Republicans assume control, they will also face the task of holding together their narrow majority on some nominations. It may be difficult for the White House, for example, to count on the support of some moderate Republicans for candidates believed to be strong opponents of abortion rights.
And now for the truth: Senator Thurmond protested on the Senate floor that Senator Leahy had promised Thurmond personally (as well as others) that Shedd would get a hearing, and said that Senator Leahy broke his word, and that was unconscionable.
Then again, it may not be :-)
Payback is a bitch.
I doubt anyone ever accused Leahy of good will regarding anything.
After the way that slimeball Leaky treated Strom and Hatch, you better believe the Dems have a lot to answer for.
I don't think I have ever seen Hatch as pissed as he was the day they screwed Strom.
I hope paybacks are a bitch, especially for the bastard Leaky.
He deserves to be horse whipped
Well, that is one of the biggest lies I've seen in the past few days.
It was no surprise. It was raw political power, exercised intentionally.
This is beautiful to see. I had hoped that the Republicans would bring again Mr. Pickering's nomination, and this time let the entire Senate vote on his appointment.
Playing the game of politics is one thing, but ruining a man's name and career, simply for the sake of politics is childish at best and criminal character assassination at worst. Man, I'm glad the Democrats are out of power.
Pray for GW andt the Truth
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