ConfirmThem

Maybe I am crazy, but I am still holding out hope that Specter has enough fight in him to at least get Pratter confirmed in June... his speech yesterday certainly gives me hope that he won't let the issue just fizzle.

The Senate is presently voting on the nomination of Steven Agee.

Agee has just been confirmed by a vote of 96-0.

Quoting Clarence Thomas upon news that he finally won confirmation to the Supreme Court, that is my reaction to news that Agee won his confirmation today. He wasn't even Bush's real choice.

Quin Hillyer

That may be, but at the very least there is one more conservative judge (at least nominally) on the fourth circuit which is close to becoming a liberal court. It may not be the most exciting news, but until John McCain becomes President John McCain, this may be the best that can be hoped for. Especially with a less than successful Republican minority.

This sounds like an interesting article. The excerpt seems to mirror what I said when Glen Conrad was nominated: Bush's nomination of Conrad had undermined the Senate Republicans' strategy to use judges as an election issue. In addition, the nomination of Helene White seems to be causing conflict between the White House and Senate Republicans:

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_140/news/25252-1.html

"After months of trying to resurrect presidential nominations as a hot-button election-year issue, Senate Republicans could find themselves on the losing end of the message this week — thanks to President Bush’s newfound desire to negotiate with Democrats and the GOP’s objections to a pending judicial nominee Bush put forth as an olive branch to the majority."

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&news...

"Today, Members of the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Justice Steven Agee to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. I appreciate their work on his nomination. Justice Agee is a man of integrity who is respected for his sound legal judgment and commitment to equal justice for all Americans. His work on the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia Court of Appeals demonstrates that his rulings are based on the letter of the law. I am confident that he will serve on the Fourth Circuit with the same level of dedication and professionalism."

"After I nominated Justice Agee on March 13, 2008, he received a hearing and a confirmation vote in less than three months. Unfortunately, many of my other judicial nominees have not received a timely confirmation process and their nominations have been pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee for significantly longer."

"Since the beginning of the 110th Congress, the Senate has only confirmed eight Circuit Court nominees. In the last two years of the past three Administrations, the Senate has confirmed an average of 17 Circuit Court judges. I encourage the Senate to provide all judicial nominees with a swift and fair confirmation process."

http://www.rollcall.com/news/25285-1.html

"Attempting to avoid a stampede on Republican judicial nominations, the Senate voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to confirm G. Steven Agee to the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/162645

"The U.S. Senate this afternoon confirmed Virginia Supreme Court Justice Steven Agee of Salem to fill a vacancy on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, approving the appointment by a vote of 96-0."

"Agee was nominated by President Bush in March after being recommended as a candidate for the post by both of Virginia’s senators, Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb. Warner and Webb made brief floor speeches in support of Agee before the Senate's vote."

"The Senate’s confirmation of Agee eased a logjam that has left five vacancies on the Richmond-based appellate court. An earlier Bush nominee for the court withdrew from the process when it became clear the Senate would not hold hearings on his nomination."

"Warner and Webb credited a process in which the two senators interviewed candidates for the bench and submitted recommendations to Bush."

"“This is, I think, a very clear manifestation of how two senators from different parties come together and find that candidate that they judge to be eminently qualified,” Warner said."

"Agee has served on the state Supreme Court since 2003 and on the Virginia Court of Appeals from 2001 to 2003. He served in the House of Delegates from 1982 to 1993."

"Agee is one of two Roanoke Valley judges Bush has nominated for vacancies on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from federal courts in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad of Roanoke was nominated for a seat on the appellate bench earlier this month. Conrad also has the backing of Warner and Webb."

"Agee's appointment creates a vacancy on the seven-member Virginia Supreme Court. Gov. Tim Kaine likely will make a recess appointment to fill that vacancy, but the General Assembly must approve the governor's selection."

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/05/senate-oks-roanoke-judges-appointment-fe...

"Amid a sometimes acrimonious debate over the Senate’s slow pace in filling vacant federal judgeships, Democrats and Republicans joined today to place Virginia Supreme Court Justice Steven Agee on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Agee, 55, was confirmed on a 96-0 vote. He will take a seat on the Richmond-based court that was vacated two years ago by former Judge Michael Luttig. The 4th circuit court hears appeals from federal district courts in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and the Carolinas.

Agee’s confirmation came largely on the strength of a bipartisan endorsement from the state’s two senators – Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb. The pair agreed shortly after Webb’s election in 2006 to join forces in considering judicial candidates.

Warner and Webb jointly interviewed 4th Circuit candidates. They effectively forced President Bush to withdraw an earlier nominee, Richmond lawyer Duncan Getchell, by leaving Getchell off their list of approved candidates.

“Sen. Warner and I have been able to accomplish some things in the last year and a half that I hope we can spread out to the broader body here,” Webb said Tuesday. Warner called Agee “absolutely superbly qualified.”

A Roanoke native, Agee was a Republican member of the House of Delegates from 1982 to 1994. He joined the state Supreme Court in 2003 after two years on the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Agee sailed through a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing earlier this spring and drew bipartisan praise on the floor in a brief debate before Tuesday’s vote.

But committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and one of his predecessors, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Ut., traded barbs over which party has done more to obstruct past nominees. Both sides were upbraided by another former committee chairman, Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, who declared that “the conduct of both parties in this chamber has been disgraceful.”"

http://afjjusticewatch.blogspot.com/2008/05/senate-republicans-turn-up-h...

"As Memorial Day recess approaches, battles in the Senate surrounding President Bush’s pending circuit court nominees are once again heating up. At issue is whether a deal hatched last month between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will be fulfilled on time. According to Roll Call, “frustrated Republicans accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of backing out of a deal…to move three unspecified judicial nominations before the Memorial Day recess, which begins Friday.”

The truth however, is a bit more nuanced. In April, Sen. Reid agreed to push for the confirmation of three circuit court nominees before Memorial Day recess if Sen. McConnell withdrew Republican opposition to the Senate’s highway funding bill. Although the deal did not include stipulations on which nominees would be pushed through, Senate Republicans clearly held out hope that they would be able to confirm three of their pet conservatives, Peter Keisler (DC Circuit), Steve Matthews and Robert Conrad (Fourth Circuit).

Senate Republican’s hopes were dashed however, when the White House – eager to get as many nominees confirmed as possible before the president’s term expires – began consultations with home-state senators in Virginia and Michigan. As a result of these discussions, agreements were made to consider new nominees for the Sixth Circuit, Judge Helene White and the Fourth Circuit, Judge G. Steven Agee.

Encouraged by the president’s newfound willingness to compromise, Sen. Reid decided to reward the White House by moving these picks, as well as Sixth Circuit nominee Raymond Kethledge through the Senate as quickly as possible. Republicans however, angered by their exclusion from these talks and hesitant to confirm moderate justices to the bench, pushed back hard, particularly Judge White."

"Now it seems that the Senate will not be able to confirm the number of judges put forward in the Reid-McConnell deal. Sen. Reid argues that he and the rest of his Democratic colleagues have done everything possible to consider these nominees, even scheduling a vote for today on Judge Agee. An article in The Hill yesterday stated that Sen. Reid accused Republicans of sabotaging the progress of Judge White and making it impossible to confirm the prearranged number of judges by the end of this week. Sen. McConnell, for his part, claims that Judge White should never have been considered so quickly and claims that the Senate is perfectly capable of considering the nominations of Fourth Circuit nominees, Conrad and Matthews by week’s end."

That's nonsense about Agee, and you know it. We've been over this a thousand times before. Duncan Getchell's name was on the original Allen-Warner list that Bush ignored, probably because it didn't originate inside his own echo chamber.

Then, after Allen almost single-handedly gives the Dems a Senate majority with his idiotic campaign thus giving arise to the now infamous Webb-Warner list, Getchell magically gets nominated when he has absolutely no chance of even getting a hearing.

If Bush wanted "his own judges" he should've fought for them when he had the "political capital" to do so, starting with Miguel Estrada.

Besides, Agee is actually pretty good on his own merits, if I recall.

STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

http://blogs.wsj.com/politicalperceptions/2008/05/19/disquiet-on-the-rig...

"Item No.1 on the list of complaints from Dr. Willke and other conservative leaders is Mr. Bush’s failure to compel the Senate to vote on the federal judges he has nominated. If approved, those nominations would put a new set of conservative judges on the federal bench for years to come, regardless of the outcome of this fall’s elections. The White House says some 30 judicial nominations are awaiting action in the Senate.

"Conservatives, as you’d expect, think Democrats in the Senate are running out the clock in hopes of appointing their own, more liberal jurists after the election. But conservatives’ ire isn’t aimed solely at Democrats; they also blame the president for failing to force the issue. Mr. Bush ought to instruct Republicans in the Senate “simply to close up shop until this constitutionally correct set of people is given a shot at a vote,” Dr. Willke said. “And he’s done nothing.”"

STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

Anyone want to bet that if Obama wins, he'll have a nominee in place for every judicial vacancy by Memorial Day '09?

STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.

http://www.mgwashington.com/index.php/news/article/judge-agee-sails-thro...

"The Senate unanimously confirmed Virginia Supreme Court Justice G. Steven Agee's nomination to the Richmond-based federal appeals court yesterday, triggering a potential domino of vacancies throughout lower Virginia courts."

"With bipartisan support from both senators from Virginia, Agee, 55, sailed through his nomination six weeks after President Bush chose him to join the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals."

"This is a very clear manifestation of how two senators of different parties can come together and find the candidate that is eminently qualified," said Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., before Agee was confirmed by a vote of 96 to 0."

"Democrats, who control Congress, said this is how fast nominations can move when the White House heeds recommendations from the nominee's home-state senators."

""Sixty-five days from nomination to confirmation is lightning speed, especially in an election year," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor."

"In a statement after yesterday's vote, Bush said he appreciated the Senate's work on this nomination, but criticized Democrats for moving Agee to the appellate bench within three months while skipping other nominees."

""Many of my other judicial nominees have not received a timely confirmation process and their nominations have been pending ... for significantly longer," Bush said."

"The bipartisanship lifting Agee to one of the most important appellate courts in the nation might not guide the selection of his successor on the seven-member Virginia Supreme Court."

"Because the General Assembly -- required by the Virginia Constitution to elect all judges -- is not in session, it would fall to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to fill a vacancy on the state's high court."

"However, the legislature will return June 23 for another go at a transportation fix. At that time, lawmakers could pick a new associate justice."

http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTgyOGVkYjc2NDVkODY0NjdkOTU0MGYx...

"A couple hours ago, the Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Virginia supreme court justice G. Steven Agee to the Fourth Circuit. Nominations to the four remaining Fourth Circuit vacancies—out of a total of 15 seats—remain pending.

The Senate has now confirmed two appellate nominees this year. By contrast, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed eight of President Clinton’s appellate nominees in his last year in office.

Meanwhile, my skepticism about majority leader Harry Reid’s promise to “do everything within my power to get three judges approved to our circuits before the Memorial Day recess” appears likely to be vindicated, as Reid is now blaming Republicans for a slowdown on the two Sixth Circuit nominees in Michigan who were the subject of a deal between the White House and Senator Levin. But last I heard—and consistent with this ABA report as of a week ago—the ABA judicial-evaluations committee still hadn’t completed its review of Levin’s former cousin-in-law, Helene White. Democrats had previously vowed not even to hold a hearing on a nominee, much less have a vote on final confirmation, before receiving the ABA’s rating. In any event, if Reid were serious about his promise, he could work to move other nominees."