ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

James Taranto is urging that the Senate GOP not drop the ball regarding the nomination of Judge Terrence Boyle for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals:

[I]t's up to the seven compromisers to decide if a party-line committee vote constitutes "extraordinary circumstances." If they decide it does, then the term truly has no meaning, since party-line Judiciary Committee votes have been routine during the Bush administration. We're guessing the Dems won't filibuster Boyle, but if they do, the Republicans had better be prepared to go nuclear.

Paul Mirengoff of Power Line is also very concerned about the Boyle nomination, especially because President Bush has already gone out of his way to extend an olive branch regarding the Fourth Circuit, for example by renominating a Clinton recess appointee:

None of this olive-branching made any difference to [Senator] Edwards or his fellow Democrats. Contrary to what their apologists say, the Senate Democrats generally don't oppose nominees based on tit-for-tat. They oppose nominees based on what the liberal special interest groups instruct them to do. Thus, Boyle remains in limbo.

Limbo is not a place where nominations typically gain strength. And, I agree with Paul Mirengoff that Senate Democrats have not been interested in tit for tat; if that had been their modus operandi, then they never would have begun history's first-ever filibusters of circuit court nominees.