Catholics, Jews, and the SJC Showdown
By Curt Levey Posted in Judiciary Committee — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
When Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy was confronted this morning by GOP colleagues fed up with his obstruction of circuit court nominees, the Chairman’s legendary thin skin was on display. Leahy became flustered and, when asked why 4th Circuit nominee Robert Conrad had not received a hearing, accused the staunch Catholic nominee of being “anti-Catholic.” At best, the charge is ironic, given the arguably anti-Catholic tone of Democrats’ attacks on Judge Bill Pryor during his confirmation hearing. This evening, the Catholic group Fidelis issued a press release calling on Leahy to apologize to Conrad and give him the hearing he has been waiting for since his nomination last July.
As I note at the end of my CFJ blog post, if there’s any religious bias involved in the current judges battle, it might be working against Jewish circuit nominees Peter Keisler, Shalom Stone, and Rod Rosenstein. After all, there does seem to be some extra Democratic antagonism whenever the President’s judicial picks remind the public that not all Hispanics, African-Americans, and Jews are liberal.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for the 2008 campaign.
If I were President Bush, I would nominate a slew of hispanic candidates right now and they run on Democratic obstruction in states like NM and CO where R seats are in danger.