Leahy’s Surprise Attack

National Review Online ^ | 10/9/02 | Byron York

[FreedomWarrior]

October 9, 2002 9:25 a.m.

Leahy’s Surprise Attack

Another Bush nominee is whacked by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Tuesday's meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to be a routine affair — a brief consideration of some lower-court judges, a discussion of pending legislation, and a quick adjournment so senators could move on to their next appointments.

It didn't work out that way. Instead, the routine gave way to an impassioned argument that revealed a level of bitterness inside the committee that has not been seen in more than a decade. And that bitterness is not just the result of profound ideological disagreements. Now, it is personal.

The subject was the nomination of Dennis Shedd to a place on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Shedd is well known and respected inside the committee. He is a former top aide to Sen. Strom Thurmond and served as chief counsel of the committee in the 1980s. He has been a U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina for the last eleven years and was nominated by President Bush for an appeals-court seat on May 9, 2001. He received the American Bar Association's top rating, and had a hearing before the committee on June 27 of this year.

But the committee has not voted on Shedd's nomination, meaning it cannot go to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Shedd had been scheduled for a vote on September 19, but Democrat Edward Kennedy, who opposes the nomination, asked that the vote be delayed — a standard procedure under the committee's rules. According to those rules, a nomination that has been placed on an agenda but then delayed will be taken up at the next business meeting.

That next meeting was Tuesday. Republicans were sure that Shedd would be on the agenda, but late Monday, they learned that committee chairman Patrick Leahy had removed Shedd's name from the list of nominations to be considered. Orrin Hatch, the committee's ranking Republican, was outraged. This is personal, Hatch said. Everyone knows Shedd, and knows that the committee usually shows some deference to former staff members. But in this case, Hatch charged, Democrats were attempting to "violate, ignore, and/or abuse this rule for the expediency of the desired outcome."

"I am struck by the irony," Hatch said at the meeting, "that several members of this committee who support the rule-breaking removal of the Shedd nomination talk a good game about the importance of judges following the law and not ignoring it when it would suit them to do so. Today we learn that such talk is just talk."

Even Thurmond, the terribly frail 99-year-old Republican who once chaired the committee and made Shedd its chief counsel, made an appearance at the meeting to express his anger. "In my 48 years in the United States Senate, I have never been treated in such a manner," Thurmond read from a prepared statement. "You assured me on numerous occasions that Judge Shedd would get a vote, and that is all that I have ever asked of you. I have waited patiently for over 17 months, and I have extended every courtesy to you."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, several Republicans echoed Thurmond's charges and all but accused Leahy of lying to them. "I approached him several times" to talk about Shedd, said GOP senator Sam Brownback. "He assured me numerous times that he was going to see that this got through." Hatch also said Leahy had pledged a vote on Shedd. "He promised me," Hatch said. "He promised Senator Thurmond."

"This is all politics," Hatch said, "and it's rotten politics, at that."

It's not entirely clear why Leahy canceled the Shedd vote. It was widely believed inside the committee that at least one, and perhaps two or three, Democrats planned to vote for Shedd, which would easily send the nomination to the full Senate. But it is also true that in recent weeks civil-rights groups have ratcheted up their attacks on Shedd. On October 2, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Leahy repeating earlier charges that Shedd's record shows "a pattern of insensitivity toward the issues that most affect minorities." In July, NAACP delegates meeting at the group's convention in Houston voted to oppose Shedd's nomination. Shortly afterward, NAACP president Kwesi Mfume wrote Leahy a letter saying that "Judge Shedd's membership to [sic] the Fourth Circuit would further radicalize a court that has practiced judicial activism in a manner that hurts racial and ethnic minorities and disenfranchised Americans."

Now the Shedd nomination, after coming so close to a committee vote, appears to be in limbo. Late yesterday, Hatch, along with Thurmond and Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, sent a letter to Leahy invoking a rarely-used rule requesting a special meeting of the committee. If Leahy agrees, the meeting will be this week. But a meeting is just a meeting. Right now, there is no evidence that Leahy plans to allow Shedd to move forward.

[nightdriver]

"On October 2, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Leahy repeating earlier charges that Shedd's record shows "a pattern of insensitivity toward the issues that most affect minorities."

Of course there aren't any specifics about just what constitutes "insensitivity," only the sound of liberals whining.

I've just re-read my copy of the Constitution and I have failed again to find anything in there about judges being required to be "sensitive."

[John H K]

Of course, every time Leahy is in the news, the question of WHY Leahy would be one of two senators singled out to get the most highly processed Anthrax from supposedly "Islamic Terrorists" should be asked.

Not that it ever is.

[CaptRon]

Kwesi Mfume wrote Leahy a letter saying that "Judge Shedd's membership to [sic] the Fourth Circuit would further radicalize a court that has practiced judicial activism in a manner that hurts racial and ethnic minorities and disenfranchised Americans

And how would that be? By applying the law even handedly without bowing to special interests?

[Cicero]

Leahy can do this, of course, because the media will tolerate lies and corruption. News of this is appearing on National Review and a few other conservative sources. But the great unwashed public doesn't even know that there is a holdup on appointing judges, because the major media have never told them about it. At most, a few people have heard that there is some sort of partisan deadlock, probably because Bush is trying to appoint racist judges.

[pgkdan]

I am sick and tired of trying to work with these anti-American, obstructionist and petty sneaks. I wish President Bush would make a slew of recess appointments and be done with it.

My God...we need to take back the Senate.

[Drango]

Leahy can do this, of course, because the media will tolerate lies and corruption.

Yes, the media underreports this kind of stuff. But the real solution has to come from other Senators. Your word has to mean something in the Senate (not to us, which would be nice) but to the other Senators.

Leahy and his constituents will pay for this when no one supports him on the minor things. Jim Jeffords comes to mind as an example.

[kayak]

bttt

[Bigg Red]

TAKE BACK THE SENATE!!! bump

[mwl1]

Bush and team are calculating that he can regain the Senate, and that the near-term obstruction of his nominees helps enrage the GOP base. If we do not succeed in recapturing the Senate, then I suspect you'll be hearing a lot more about the treatment of the Bush judicial nominees. It's called the bully pulpit that the president occupies.

[OPS4]

The Commies are have the dirty tricks book in full distribution to the leftist politicians and theri backers.

Now they have figured out that by holding up law and order justices, they can continue their attck on democracy, and the very fiber of a once great nation.

We must get out and vote them out in greater numbers than ever before. We must campaign in our own areas to get the voters to the polls to knock the leftists out!

Ops4 God Bless America!!!

[Corporate Law]

Can we kick Vermont out of the union, or at least remove their right to vote?

[1Old Pro]

Leahy is about to get SPANKED by the U.S. Senate for LYING. What a crumb bag Leahy is.

[lepton]

bump

[Pagey]

It's called the bully pulpit that the president occupies.

Well, I don't believe he'll actually use the office as a bully pulpit until the day after he wins his second term and not until then.Heck,how can he? Because I tired of the Bias of All TV News,(I really shouldn't have to absorb Bias when my day is over ) I just read online each day.

[Sender]

Hear, hear! The gloves are off. Now it's a street fight. I say if we don't take back the Senate, GWB should recess appoint the whole conservative dream team and then let the whining babies protest to no avail.

[Ditto]

If the Republicans take back the Senate this year, Lehay may as well dig a hole and pull it in on himself. He won't get the time of day from any member of the majority after this BS. He just burned his last bridge.

[mwl1]

We need to get the treatment of Shedd out to everyone we can, because they'll never hear about it via the news media.

Pickering. Owen. Estrada. Shedd. A dozens of others in limbo.

[F.J. Mitchell]

DemonRATs: The horde of power mad barbarians!

[Bigg Red]

We must campaign in our own areas to get the voters to the polls to knock the leftists out!


You are so right!

[cinFLA]

Bump