Here Come Da Judges

The Weekly Standard ^ | 11/18/2002 | Terry Eastland

[LaGrone]

I wonder when Leaky Leahy's up for re-election, '04 or '06? I fervently hope Hatch bit#h slaps the hate-filled cretin back to the stone age. Then I hope he gets routed in his next election.

No disrespect to Vermonters, but there are some strange dudes there. One Senator leaks national security information, and the other sells out his political party.

[Tuco-bad]

The committee probably will take no further action on another nominee who has had a hearing but not a committee vote--Miguel Estrada (for the D.C. Circuit). That nomination became stuck on a request to the Justice Department for papers Estrada prepared as a lawyer in the solicitor general's office during the 1990s. Getting his nomination to a vote, says an aide to a Republican senator, "will take some time"--more than is available in the Senate's last days.

Anyway who watched on C-Span Estrada's giving answers at his Jucicial Committee hearing would readily agree how unqualified he is for being appointed a federal judge to the D.C. circuit.

Bush should be embarrased for nominating Estrada.

[BushMeister]

Yes, I agree that Estrada is OVERqualified for the D.C. bench.

[Spunky]

Some numbers help tell the story of Democratic obstructionism (or success, from their point of view): Of Bush's 32 nominees to the appeals court, the Senate confirmed only 14, or 44 percent. During comparable periods--the first two years of a presidency--the Senate typically has confirmed a much higher percentage of appeals court nominees. (For Ronald Reagan, it was 95 percent; George H.W. Bush, 96 percent; and Bill Clinton, 85 percent.) What especially irritates Bush is the lack of hearings: On November 15, no fewer than 15 of his appeals court nominees will have waited in vain for more than a year to have hearings scheduled.

Just yesterday Dahasshole was trying to make it sound so good that they had confirmed 44%.
You arn't pulling the wool over some sheeples eyes anymore, Dahasshole.

[Tuco-bad]

Yes, I agree that Estrada is OVERqualified for the D.C. bench.

Did you see Estrada's testimony on C-Span?

[sinkspur]

Did you see Estrada's testimony on C-Span?

I did. Chuck Schumer played word games with him and tripped him up about something extremely obscure.

I don't give a damn how someone testifies before a bunch of arrogant politicians. I care how he understands and rules on Constitutional law.

Estrada was given a "very qualified" by the liberal American Bar Association and will be confirmed by the full Senate.

[Johnny Shear]

What this means is that even in the unlikely event a nominee is defeated in committee, the full Senate will be given the opportunity to vote. A committee will no longer act for the entire Senate.

I didn't know that...

This is quite a change...I don't think I would like it if I was on the other side of the fence.

[Tuco-bad]

Estrada was given a "very qualified" by the liberal American Bar Association and will be confirmed by the full Senate.

Why then bother with confirmation hearings, just let the ABA evaluate the candidate?

BTW - Do you think you would be an effective salesperson if you were inarticulate and worse yet had a severe stuttering problem?

[sinkspur]

BTW - Do you think you would be an effective salesperson if you were inarticulate and worse yet had a severe stuttering problem?

Salesmen make their living through verbal communication. Judges don't; in fact, most judges don't do very well speaking in the courtroom, even when they've got an opinion written out for them.

Schumer was playing "gotcha" with Estrada, and he got him.

I'm grateful that Bush will get more of his his judges through, and they're likely to be even more conservative than Estrada.

Leahy screwed the pooch with his obstructionism.

[Tuco-bad]

Schumer was playing "gotcha" with Estrada, and he got him.

The best was when Ted Kennedy asked Estrada a question in which he expected a yes or no answer.

Estrada said "I'll think about it", Kennedy asked him again, for an answer, again he got the same response. Kennedy then said incredulously, "Is that your answer, I'll think about it?" Estrada just smiled.

Forget Estrada's politics, and that Bush nominated him, this guy has no business being considered for a federal judgeship.

[RAT Patrol]

Good column.

[weikel]

The judges.

[Howlin]

FYI.

[Howlin]

If Republicans decide to maintain a 19-member committee, one Democrat must leave, the obvious candidate being the most junior Democrat, John Edwards. Republicans are considering shrinking the committee to 17 members, in which case a second Democrat would have to depart, probably the next most junior, Maria Cantwell.

Pity.

[KantianBurke]

I AM THE LAW!

[Constitution Day]

Pity.

Pity, indeed. Cry me a river.

[Mo1]

one Democrat must leave, the obvious candidate being the most junior Democrat, John Edwards.

Bye Bye Johnny

[Howlin]

All torn up, are you? :-)

[Darlin']

"Leahy and others will doubtless not forget their complaint that the Republican Senate treated Clinton nominees unfairly, blocking appointments of judicial liberals. And Charles Schumer will probably continue his crusade to make "ideology" an explicit ground for rejecting nominees. But precisely because their party is in the minority, they will be unable to prevail against a nominee--unless they can persuade enough of their colleagues to sustain a filibuster on the floor, a procedure so politically risky that it probably will be reserved for use only against a Supreme Court nominee"

I think it has proven to be politically risky for Leahy, the soon to be former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to condone Clinton. He and the other dems on that committee supported a man who lied under oath, was impeached and disbarred.