GOP Sets Early Push For Judges

Senate Republicans are planning to move aggressively on judicial nominations at the start of the 108th Congress, hoping to hold three voting sessions in January to install new judges on the federal bench.

Leading Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting with White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales last week with a framework for how they will push for nominees previously held up by the outgoing Democratic majority.

While final dates have not been set, some GOPleaders are pushing to hold votes on judges in the Judiciary Committee as early as Jan. 10, 2003, just three days after the new Congress convenes.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a Judiciary member who is also a newcomer to the leadership, said he is pushing for the White House to renominate any holdover nominees from this Congress on Jan. 7. If that occurs, Senate rules mandate the committee wait three days before a nominee could be voted on in executive sessions, a timetable Kyl favors.

"We go into session Tuesday. Count them up, three days, that means Friday," Kyl said of his preferred schedule.

Kyl said the plan would then involve holding executive sessions to vote on more judges the following Friday, Jan. 17, and possibly again at the end of the month. Aides and other Senators stressed that no dates had yet been finalized, but agreed with the general outline for getting out of the gate quickly and holding up to three voting sessions next month on nominees who have already had hearings but have not yet been reported favorably out of committee.

That strategy would likely mean a quick vote on Miguel Estrada's nomination to the prestigious U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. His bid has drawn sharp opposition from liberal groups looking to knock off Estrada, who is widely viewed as a potential Supreme Court nominee.

(R-Miss.) had previously vowed to make Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi, a friend of 30 years whose bid for a Circuit Court seat was defeated last March, the first judge considered in the 108th Congress. Republicans privately acknowledged that a new Pickering fight might be too tricky to push forward this early because of the ongoing battle Lott is fighting regarding racial allegations, which were also the subtext to Pickering's nomination.

Lott said at a press conference Friday that he still hoped the White House would nominate Pickering, but he agreed his opponents will link the issues. "Obviously, people will try to use it against him," he said.

Sen.Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the incoming Judiciary chairman, declined to speculate on what the Lott controversy meant for Pickering. But Hatch said he would take up nominees "chronologically, starting with May 9."

Hatch was referring to the remaining nominees who were sent to the Hill by President Bush on May 9, 2001, many of whom Democrats considered too conservative or controversial. That first group of nominees did not include Pickering, but it did include Estrada as well as John Roberts, a nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court, and Jeffrey Sutton, a Circuit Court nominee from Ohio.

Estrada had a hearing in the fall, a marathon session in which he faced hours of questions from Senate Democrats, who have now had several months to ask him follow-up questions in writing. "That's an example of one of those nominees that shouldn't be too hard to bring up,"Kyl said.

Roberts and Sutton, however, have not yet had hearings, meaning they would most likely be among the first nominees to get an airing before the soon-to-be Republican-controlled committee next month.

If Republicans can get started that quickly on controversial nominees such as Estrada and Roberts, the ball will quickly be in the Democrats' court. With a majority of Republicans, the committee can ram through any nominee it wants by a one-vote margin, sending it to the floor, where a handful of moderate Democrats are likely to join Republicans in approving almost every nominee.

Aides say it's not clear if, and over which nomination, Democrats would be willing to go the unusual route of filibustering a lower-court nomination, a tactic that has usually been reserved for controversial Supreme Court nominees. But Democrats noted that Republicans can't do anything just yet with Judiciary or any other committee, not while Lott and the Democratic leader, Sen. Thomas Daschle (S.D.), are still haggling over a reorganization resolution that will formally establish committee structures for the 108th.

Until that resolution passes the Senate, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will still be considered chairman of Judiciary, as will all other current Democratic chairmen. Lott and Daschle agreed that the new panels will have a one-seat edge for Republicans, but many issues remain undecided, including how the funds will be split and whether the GOP achieves its majority by knocking Democrats off the committees or adding more members.

Lott and Daschle last spoke about the issue a week ago, just as the controversy over Lott's comments at a tribute to Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.)exploded, and it's unclear when the leaders will resume their own one-on-one talks.

When Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) left the GOP and gave Democrats the majority, it took more than a month to negotiate the new organizing resolution. Any extended negotiation such as the last one would put a serious roadblock into Republican plans of quickly passing Estrada and other judges.

And Democrats are anxiously awaiting the chance to contrast how quickly Senate Republicans approve judges nominated by Bush to those nominees from the Clinton administration, when the GOP also controlled the chamber. "There's no doubt that Republicans will dramatically improve on their own record of obstructing President Clinton's nominees,"said David Carle, Leahy's spokesman. "In fact, they'll beat their own record by a mile."

In a pre-emptive move to defend his own record, which Republicans regularly assailed in the past year, Leahy sent a letter to Chief Justice William Rehnquist outlining what he considers a strong record of approving judges, 100 in all since Democrats took over in mid-2001.

"While some have attempted to diminish our significant accomplishments through misleading percentage comparisons, the fact is that we were extremely productive, especially when compared to the Republican majority's actions from 1995 to 2001," Leahy wrote.

Leahy is hoping to influence Rehnquist's year-end report which is due in the coming weeks and usually includes remarks on how the Senate has performed in approving judges. Leahy inherited 110 judicial vacancies, a number that was sliced down to 59 when the 107th Congress concluded its work last month.

Whenever Republicans get to start moving judicial nominations, they expect to make it a regular duty, with both a hearing and voting session every week. Aides said Kyl was among those Republicans who were pushing for a specific show of force by holding a hearing on judicial nominees every day of the second week of the session, from Jan. 13 through Jan. 17.

It's unlikely that such an ambitious schedule would be taken up, but more because of time constraints than GOP willingness. "We're not going to overreach," vowed a GOP aide. "But we are not going to be sitting back either. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Dec 17, 2002

BC-Lott-Lewis, BC-Lott-BET-Excerpts, BC-Lott-Nickles, BC-Lott-Quotes GOP, White House, Ponder Lott's Future as He Apologizes - A

By Jesse J. Holland
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Trent Lott says he "made a terrible mistake" in praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign, touching off a gathering controversy that could cost him his leadership post. President Bush won't try to save Lott's job, presidential advisers said.

The White House position could seal Lott's fate because a growing number of GOP senators are expressing concerns that the Mississippi senator is a liability to their agenda in Congress and to Bush's re-election.

The Senate GOP set a Jan. 6 meeting on Monday to decide whether Lott should remain majority leader.

Trying to salvage his political career, Lott reached out Monday to the community he now admits he wounded, and promised black Americans that minorities could benefit from his continued leadership.

"I accept the fact that I made a terrible mistake, used horrible words, caused hurt," Lott, R-Miss., said during a 30-minute interview with Black Entertainment Television. "But it is about actions more than words. As majority leader I can move an agenda that would hopefully be helpful to African Americans and minorities of all kinds and all Americans."

Lott has been trying to atone for his Dec. 5 toast to centenarian Sen. Strom Thurmond, when he publicly wished that Thurmond had been elected president in 1948. Mississippi voted for Thurmond, Lott recalled, "and if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."

Thurmond's third-party platform in 1948 was almost wholly segregationist, upholding bans on multiracial marriages and the defense of the South from "anti-lynching" reforms.

White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday that Bush would not try to save Lott's job.

Bush's political advisers say they are highly disappointed with Lott's explanations, but say they had been ordered by the president not to take any overt or covert action against the Mississippi Republican.

The White House faces a dilemma: Lott is hurting both Bush and his party, but any effort to take down Lott will hurt Bush with his Southern base, say senior Republicans close to the White House. Bush also feels some loyalty toward Lott, White House officials said.

Thus, the president's political team is forced into what one White House official called a "strategy of silence," hoping events themselves lead to Lott's removal or - much less likely - somehow end the controversy

Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., Lott's longtime rival within the GOP leadership, was the first Republican to break ranks over the weekend and call for new leadership elections, and there were fresh signs of Lott's political weakness Monday. The Republican National Committee maintained its silence about the controversy, and the White House issued its sharpest rebuke yet.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Lott's remarks about Thurmond's presidential bid were "offensive and repugnant." At the same time, he said, "The president does not think he (Lott) needs to resign."

Incoming GOP whip Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the sole Senate Republican to repeat his support for Lott on Monday, saying he hoped "this issue is resolved quickly so we can move forward together to advance the president's agenda."

Democrats are discussing a rare censure motion against Lott, and several have said he should consider stepping down.

There was no shortage of speculation about potential successors.

In addition to Nickles, Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has also gained prominence in recent months, following a successful stint as chairman of the senatorial campaign committee.

"My Republican colleagues and I are actively engaged in deciding what is in the best interest of the Senate as an institution and the country," Frist said in a statement. "I am confident a consensus will emerge, but no decisions have been made yet."

Lott's reputation suffered as much from his toast - which he said was offhand - as it did from the subsequent analysis of his political record, which showed resolved opposition to causes dear to the civil rights community.

In his fourth apology to date, Lott scrambled to show he was a changed man. He announced that he now supports making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday - having voted against it on the Senate floor - and said he supports affirmative action.

"I'm for affirmative action and I've practiced it," he said. "I've had African Americans on my staff and other minorities, but particularly African Americans, since the mid-1970s."

NAACP chairman Julian Bond said using Lott's staff to tout his record "demonstrated abysmal ignorance of the legal status of affirmative action."

"He kept saying, 'I made a mistake,'" Bond told AP Radio. "But he didn't make one mistake. His whole public life has been a mistake."

Lott also said had spoken with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., about setting up a task force on reconciliation and with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, about setting up an African-American summit.

Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader, said Lott appeared "sincere." "I'd like to come down on his side, giving him a chance," Lewis said. "It's very much keeping with the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence to forgive and move on."

Lott denied that he was a racist. "To be a racist, you have to feel superior," he told his questioner, Ed Gordon. "I don't feel superior to you at all."

Some Republican aides speculated about an effort to coax Lott from his leadership with the prospect of a committee chairmanship. They worry that a humiliated Lott could resign his Senate seat, allowing Mississippi's Democratic governor to name a Democratic replacement - and leaving the Senate at a 50-50 tie.

AP-ES-12-17-02 0842EST

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA4HM2WT9D.html

Dec. 16, 2002 5:45 p.m. EST

Sen. Kyl: Lott a 'Block' to GOP Election Victory

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, about to be third in command on the GOP side of the Senate, said the aftermath of Lott's remarks has been as bad as the comments themselves.

"I thought he could it put it behind him with genuine apologies. But I don't think the apologies appeared to be emotional and genuine enough," Kyl told KFYI Radio in Phoenix today. "This thing has spun out of control ... it’s not going to be contained."

Kyl, who will be chairman of the Republican policy committee in the next session, was concerned about the GOP's control of the Senate if the majority leader is deposed. "You don’t just step aside from your leadership position. Ordinarily you say: 'My colleagues have chastised me, I've been humiliated, and I ain't going to hang around here anymore.'

"I can't conceive of that happening in Trent's case because it would conceivably give the majority to the Democrats."

But Kyl added that a return by Lott to Pascagoula may be attractive for the senator. "Put yourself in his position: You've just been humiliated by the media, your opposition and now your colleagues, but they want you to hang around to make sure they still have a majority. It's hard to make it work that way."

He mourned: "We had taken the House, Senate and presidency ... all kinds of really exciting, great things about to happen, and then this happens."

Kyl said the wind has been taken from his sails. "We had a great opportunity, and this is going to put a block to that."

Democrats and black leaders are among those calling for Lott's removal, but it was conservative activists for whom Kyl had a special message. "I have criticized Trent before for being too much of a dealmaker," Kyl said. "But these same people who didn't like Trent to begin with now want us to immediately throw him overboard."

Kyl would not predict what might happen at the party conference on Lott scheduled for Jan. 6, but said the GOP must keep the big picture in mind.

"We have a responsibility not just to ourselves and not just to our constituents ... but frankly to Republicans all over the country to try to put ourselves in the best position we can to help to carry out the president's goals ... and represent our constituents."

Sen. Hagel: 'Poison Ivy'

With 51 Republicans in the next session of the Senate, it would take 26 votes to call back Lott's leadership role, to which he was elected last month.

GOP Sens. Conrad Burns of Montana, John Warner of Virginia and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska supported a meeting soon of the rank and file to deal with the controversy.

Republicans "must either reconfirm their confidence in Senator Trent Lott's leadership or select a new leader," Hagel said. "In the interest of the Republican Party, the president's agenda and the nation, this issue must be resolved quickly."

He likened the fuss to "poison ivy" infecting the party.

Sen. Hutchison: 'His Ability to Lead'

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Republican conference vice chairman, issued a statement today on the Jan. 6 meeting about Lott.

"Republican senators are working all over their states during December, and we have not had the opportunity to come together to discuss the developments on this issue. I believe the matter to be vitally important for all Republican senators to discuss as a group, and the need for a meeting is clear.

"Senator Lott has apologized and is doing everything he can to make this situation right. This meeting will provide Republican senators the opportunity for a full and open discussion about Senator Lott and his ability to lead the Republican majority."

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