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Not only is there a bright side for conservatives in the recent Senate “compromise” on Presidential appointments, but it’s hard to find any reason at all to justify celebration by liberal Democrats. President Bush’s long-stalled 5th Circuit nominee, Priscilla Owen, now sits on that federal bench, and confirmations of capable conservatives Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are soon to follow. Even the prospective nominations of William Meyers and Henry Saad have been sidetracked in thought only. Make no mistake – the dam has cracked and its eventual collapse is as easy as ever to see. The seven Republican signatories...

As part of the judicial nominee deal made in the Senate this week, the confirmation of Henry Saad (search), whose nomination to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has languished since 2001, has come into doubt. Aides to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told FOX News that Democrats will filibuster (search) the nomination of Saad and William Myers (search) to the 9th Circuit Court. Democrats say both nominees are exempt from the "exceptional circumstances" clause in the bipartisan agreement. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist acknowledged on Wednesday that the two nominees remain in limbo. "The agreement for both Myers and...

Since Pryor, Brown and Owen are "approved" as far as being filibuster proof; won't the Dems be violating their own agreement if they filibuster Saad and Meyers......... You have Pryor, Brown and Owen as the new "litmus test." If a nominee is not clearly in excess as far as ideology of these three, then you can't filibuster. We will have the last laugh yet. P.S. If you want to feel better about this unfortunate deal, go over to DU and you'll see that most of them are on suicide watch. We just need to keep up the pressure and also...

Advocacy Group Says Minority Leader Guilty of Gross Violation: Leahy and Levin Also Named ALEXANDRIA, VA - The American Conservative Union, the nations oldest and largest conservative grassroots organization, yesterday filed an ethics complaint against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The complaint comes in response to Sen. Reid's May 12th reference to judicial nominee Henry Saad's confidential FBI file on the floor of the United States Senate. "Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway…," said Reid on the floor of the Senate. "All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report...

During a debate on the Senate floor May 12, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) launched an assault on appellate court nominee Henry Saad, who is awaiting confirmation to the 6th Circuit. Reid’s attack included the suggestion that senators review Saad’s confidential FBI report to understand why Democrats oppose his confirmation. “Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “He’s one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree there is a problem there.”...

Expel Sen. Reid Tuesday, May 17, 2005 Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is using the politics of personal destruction to redefine McCarthyism. Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, announced on the Senate floor Thursday that he continues to oppose judicial nominee Henry Saad because of "a problem" in the highly confidential FBI report regarding the Michigan judge. "All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there," Reid said. Even Mr. Saad is not allowed to see his...

At the risk of piling on, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, in the latest of a series of strained attempts to justify a judicial-filibuster strategy that annihilates Senate traditions, has utterly destroyed the civility that once prevailed in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Reid took the floor to decry Republican attempts to restore the old traditions of voting yes-or-no on a president's judicial nominees. About two-thirds of the way through a 30-minute talk, he added the following ad-libbed passage: "Henry Saad would have been filibustered, anyway. He's one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member...

Character assassination apparently has become the Democrats' stock-in-trade these days on Capitol Hill. Witness Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who departed from his prepared text to denounce one of President Bush's judicial nominees — a victim of Democratic filibustering — by saying the judge has "a problem" based on "his confidential report from the FBI." Reid wasn't offering up any details — which his office seems to think lets him off the hook. Because the problem is that those FBI background reports, as Reid himself conceded, are "confidential." ....Senate rules prohibit a member from publicly disclosing confidential information — on...

Justice Dept. Enters Court Nominee Fight By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer Sat May 14, 5:39 AM ET The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees. "The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night....

Character assassination apparently has become the Democrats' stock-in-trade these days on Capitol Hill. Witness Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who departed from his prepared text to denounce one of President Bush's judicial nominees — a victim of Democratic filibustering — by saying the judge has "a problem" based on "his confidential report from the FBI." Reid wasn't offering up any details — which his office seems to think lets him off the hook. Because the problem is that those FBI background reports, as Reid himself conceded, are "confidential." And Senate rules prohibit a member from publicly disclosing confidential information —...

Saad What?!? Harry Reid’s Shameful Trampling of Privacy Rights. By N. Beaujon May 14, 2005 Every day the news gets more reprehensible. Yesterday Harry (“Valley Girl”) Reid, a formerly unknown Congressperson, again, made gossipy headlines by illegally exposing the FBI file of Bush judicial nominee, Judge Henry Saad. At a press conference, otherwise known as “Democrat Shrews take to the Mic to Embarrass Themselves”, Reid stated that “"Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway…All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree...

The sniping over President Bush's judicial nominees is reaching critical mass, with the Senate expected to vote soon on the so-called nuclear option -- a Senate rule change that would end Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid prompted outrage from Republicans on Thursday, when he criticized one of those stalled judicial nominees on the Senate floor. "Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Reid said. "He's one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the F.B.I., and I think we would all...

In his enthusiastic quest to deliver on the Democratic Party of "NO"'s apparent commitment to obstruction of all of the Bush administration's nominees, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid made Reference to a Confidential FBI Report, with regard to Henry Saad (the Michigan Appeals Court judge who is nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit) Access to these reports is limited to committee members and the nominee's home-state senators. Interestingly enough Senator Reid would fall into neither category. How then does he reference these records? FYI: Standing Rule of the Senate 29, Section 5: "Any Senator, officer,...

Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees. "The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night. The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity,...

Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees based on "a problem" he said is in the nominee's "confidential report from the FBI." Those highly confidential reports are filed on all judicial nominees, and severe sanctions apply to anyone who discloses their contents. Less clear is whether a senator could face sanctions for characterizing the content of such files. "Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Mr. Reid said on the floor yesterday, about the Michigan Appeals Court judge who is nominated to...

May 13, 2005, 8:59 a.m. Harry Reid Steps Over the Line — Again The GOP calls his description of a Bush nominee "deeply unethical." As the Senate edges closer to a showdown on the issue of Democratic filibusters of the president's judicial nominees, Republicans on Capitol Hill are angry at remarks by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid which they say smeared one of those blocked nominees. During a debate about the filibusters Thursday, Reid, who has made a series of controversial statements about President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and others in recent months,...

With three weeks to Election Day, it is time for Republicans to close the deal with swing voters -- independents, Southern and Midwestern moderates, blue-collar households, Catholics, and Hispanics. The tactics of Senate Democrats and their liberal allies are now so nakedly partisan that the judiciary could well become the issue that wins tight Senate races and presidential battleground states for the GOP. (A secondary benefit of campaigning on this issue is that it establishes a clear "judiciary mandate" -- an advantage when addressing the Senate's rule for filibusters and a bonus when the time comes to nominate a Supreme...

Senate Democrats block vote on Michigan judge By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 7/22/2004, 11:45 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats successfully blocked the nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad to a federal appeals court. The Senate voted 52-46 Thursday to proceed with a vote on Saad's nomination, but the motion required 60 votes to pass. It was the eighth time Senate Democrats have blocked one of President Bush's judicial nominees. Bush nominated Saad to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2001. Michigan Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow opposed his nomination because Senate...

Senate committee again delays Saad's nomination By DEE-ANN DURBIN The Associated Press 10/30/2003, 1:52 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch delayed a vote on a Michigan judge for the fifth time Thursday, blaming "very difficult negotiations" with Democrats who are angry about the treatment of previous judicial nominees. Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad has been waiting since July for the committee to vote on his nomination to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Despite "continuous bludgeoning" from Republicans who are pushing for a vote on Saad, Hatch said Thursday he is determined...

<p>Republicans have picked Henry Saad &#8212; President Bush's judicial nominee from Michigan who is of Arab descent &#8212; as the face of their next high-profile nominations battle.</p> <p>If Democrats continue to block the nomination, Republicans aim to capitalize on it during the next presidential election with the large Arab community in Michigan, a state viewed as crucial to Mr. Bush's re-election.</p>