ConfirmThem

By Nate H Posted in Judiciary Committee — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Byron York pens an excellent essay, at NRO, looking at the new GOP strategy re: judicial nominations (one I think might just work). Basically, Specter's offering an olive branch to the Democrats by way of holding hearings for some of the judges who President Bush recently re-nominated. One of those nominees is none other than Judge Pryor.

National Review Online has learned that the first of those hearings will be held next month on the nomination of William Pryor, President Bush's filibustered choice for a seat on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The hearing will also consider the nomination of William Haynes, the president's pick for a place on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Both men had hearings before the committee when they were nominated in the president's first term. Both were approved by the committee. Pryor's nomination was filibustered by Democrats, while Haynes's nomination was never brought to the Senate floor.

Pryor, the former attorney general of Alabama who, after the Democratic filibuster, was given a recess appointment to the Eleventh Circuit by President Bush, is a favorite of social conservatives. By all accounts, he made a strong showing at his hearing in June 2003 (see "The Nominee Who Won't Back Down"), where he stood behind his statement that he considers Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law."

...

The decision to hold hearings for Pryor and Haynes appears to be a concession to Democrats. Republicans, who now hold a 10-to-8-vote advantage over Democrats on the committee (it was 10-to-9 before last year's election), had hoped to approve the nominations quickly without having to reenact hearings that had already taken place.

...

The Republicans say that Specter and his GOP colleagues are shaping a strategy in which they, the Republicans, will offer hearings and other procedural concessions to Democrats in an effort to determine whether Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid plans to continue his predecessor Tom Daschle's strategy of stopping Republican nominees at all costs.

"It's an opportunity if they want to back off one or two of [the filibusters]," says the second Republican source, "so they have a way of saving face."

"This is kind of an olive branch to them, saying, hey, I'll give this guy hearings," says the first Republican. "If they turn it into a circus, [Specter] can say, screw it, I'm not going to put the other guys through that."

...

Pryor and Haynes will be the guinea pigs in the new Republican experiment. They were chosen carefully; both are candidates who, given the situation that exists in the Senate, will be difficult for Democrats not to filibuster. Pryor's statements on abortion alone virtually guarantee continued Democratic opposition, while Haynes seems destined to be portrayed as Mr. Abu Ghraib. If that is the case, and especially if Democratic attacks on them are strident, then Republicans feel they will be able to build the base from which to launch an attempt to break through the Democratic filibusters.

Sounds like there will be more to March Madness than basketball.