Dole and Schultz on Judicial Nominations
By AndrewHyman Posted in Analysis and Predictions — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Senator Elizabeth Dole is quoted today about the Boyle nomination:
I would hope we would be able to get a vote in September....I just hope the Senate will do the right thing and confirm him. Look, Terry has been through an awful lot....The primary goal is to see that he gets confirmed and the job gets done.
There's also an op/ed in Legal Times by Evan P. Schultz, a former Democratic counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Schultz points out that we may be headed toward another Senate crisis. "If the self-appointed moderates in the so-called Gang of 14 don’t give the green light to filibustering any of these nominees, then the Republicans have sworn to go nuclear."
But, Schultz argues that Senate Democrats should support a Senate rules change to limit judicial filibustering. According to Schultz, "the Democrats should grin and say, 'Bring it on.'"
Everyone should grin about that. Perpetual filibusters of majority-supported judicial nominations were unprecedented until 2003, and they're very harmful. The so-called "nuclear option" is just one of several ways to get rid of them.
Hat Tip: How Appealing.
Moore
by AndrewHyman
Vote scheduled for 4:30 today.
September 29 deadline
by BoBo
The AP is reporting that the Senate will adjourn on September 29 and will not reconvene until after the November election. That means there are only 24 days left to confirm judges. That is just over three weeks. I see no way that the five most controversial judges - Boyle, Myers, Haynes, Smith and Wallace - can all be dealt with in this time frame, especially if hearings are required on them. To compound the problem, the article says that votes on the executive nominations of John Bolton and Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach are likely. These will probably take precedence over any judicial confirmation votes.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060905/D8JUL8G06.html
It will be interesting to see if Specter and Frist get Keisler, Livingston, Jordan, Murphy and Kethledge confirmed and ignore the rest.
Smith, too?
by Robert1
BoBo,
I think your list may be all that can get done this session, along with Moore later today. They could also get Smith done if they put him up for the Idaho seat the California chicks agreed to (effectively dumping Myers).
I would still like them to attempt Wallace, creating a political issue even if they don't get him confirmed.
Does anyone know if Moore is getting her vote today? Thought she was on the calendar, but I don't have the link to it.