New District Court Nominee
By Curt Levey Posted in District Courts — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Today, the President nominated Frederick J. Kapala of Illinois to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, replacing Judge Philip Reinhard, who is retiring.
Whoop-dee-doo! Now all the vacancies are filled!
Kapala is an Illinois Circuit Judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit.
I understand the frustration with this process, but we need to take what we can get. Put up the district judges, and get them approved even if the COA positions don't fill quickly. Leahy can't block them all, so get the district guys in - leave nothing for Hilary.
get good young judges on the district court level, and they'll be eligible for a future president to raise to the COA or SCOTUS in 5, 10, 15 years.
the COA vacancy rate is climbing too, and with no new judgeships created in a decade or so, the need/caseload for each judge is greater and greater. Leahy and Co. can't get away with blocking them all.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the only ones Leahy's committee can't block are Supreme Court nominees.
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Bipartisanship = give + take. Republicans give. Democrats take.
1) Don't vote on them in committee. ("We're not going to vote until the White House releases the other 3,725 documents we requested.")
2) Vote them down on a party line vote in committee. (End of story, right?)
3) Don't vote on them on them on the floor. (Someone can put a hold on the nominee and schedules can always be manipulated.)
4) Refuse to hold a cloture vote. (Frist did this more than once, right?)
5) Have a cloture vote fail. (This gives the Red State Dems an 'out' if they need it since only 41 of 51 votes needed.)
6) Vote down the nominee in the full Senate.
I doubt #6 would happen very often, but several of the others are likely for anyone not on a list preapproved by Leahy and Reid. Did I miss any or are any of these way off base?
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Bipartisanship = give + take. Republicans give. Democrats take.
but the reality is they will have to let some through, especially on the 3rd and 4th circuits where there are a ton of vacancies. probably on the 5th as well, and even the 9th, though there are only 2 vacancies there. if they obstruct too much they'll be Daschled, so some will get through, though slowly. I doubt we see more than 10 though, which will put Bush's 2nd term at 25 or less, which is an outrage and a tragedy, the consequence of voters' stupidity Nov 7.
And for all the complaining by Democrats that Clinton's nominees were blocked, Bush will have gotten less COA confirmed, and that with more than 4 years of the Senate in Bush's term being controlled by the GOP, verses only 2 years in Clinton's term controlled by the Democrats.
This really really stinks. Where is justice? (Oh yeah, justice is being fillibustered!)

He's non-controversial and should be confirmed with no problems, right?
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Bipartisanship = give + take. Republicans give. Democrats take.