ConfirmThem

A great update. It's good to see Randy Smith on his way back to the floor. At least its now in the hands of Bill Frist.

It's also good to see the district judges move. While its true that we like the Circuit Court nominees, we've all seen how much mischief a bad District Court judge can cause and we've also all seen that the Disctrict Court area is the breeding ground for the CCA just as the CCA is the breeding ground for SCOTUS.

that Specter did a good job moving these people the way that he did. Will it be enough? I don't know. I'd like to see votes on these people, but if they can't get them through then they cant and we're done for the year since the Dims would likely kick the nominees not voted on right back to the White House since its another 30 days.

Frist is on the line, lets see what he does.

Dianne Feinstein controls the fate of Randy Smith now. If she can generate enough support for her position against Smith, Frist will not give Smith a floor vote next week. Besides Democrats, Feinstein is likely to get the support of some Republicans as well. Why? Because this is a matter concerning senatorial prerogatives. No senator, Republican or Democrat, wants his right to oversee the selection of COA judges that control his state infringed upon. If she gets the right number of senators behind her, Frist will not bring Smith's name up for a vote next week. He wants no embarrassing filibusters before the election break.

You sound quite sure of yourself, Bobo. However, this a case of competing prerogatives. The Idaho Senators have just as much reason --- perhaps more --- to think that Smith is entitled to this seat. Moreover, as far as Sen. Frist is concerned, he knows that the base wants him to confront the Dems on judges, and that this would be a good election issue. He also must know that if there is no confrontation, then it becomes less likely for the next Majority Leader to reserve the "nuclear option," and that would imperil SCOTUS nominations in Bush's last two years. Plus Frist knows that Smith is eminently qualified. Plus it appears that another Idaho nominee (Myers) may not make it out of committee, which gives Feinstein even less justification for opposing Smith.

Note that Roger Heaton is not a district court nominee. He is a nominee for U.S. Attorney for IL. Thus, we only got four district ct nominees moved to the senate floor today (3 for CA and 1 for PR).

Thanks gg, I've corrected that.

Lindsey Graham gets a smack-down from the U.S. Court of Appeals of Armed Forces. Its seems that Graham may not continue to serve as a military judge (as he has) while being being a U.S. Senator.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-20-graham-ruling_x.htm

Myers not making it out of committee has no bearing on Smith because it has to do with the SEAT that Smith is up for not the number of nominees that each state has.

Personally, I'd like to see a formula similar to what is used for portioning the HOR after each census.

Every state gets at least one or two CCA seat(s) and the rest are apportioned based on the population of your state (or the filings of your state).

Nominated on August 2nd, he's already on the floor. He's going to break some kind of record ... Congress has only had his nomination for about two weeks! He must be a personal favorite of Boxer and Feinstein. I expect some voice vote or unanimous consent confirmations.

If you examine the last case in which two senators from one state objected to a nominee from another state who was put up for a COA seat they considered theirs (Claude Allen of Virginia for a "Maryland" seat), you will see that Frist, Hatch and Specter did nothing to help that candidate. Why would things be different now?

Bobo, the Claude Allen situation was completely different from the situation with Smith. Wasn't Allen nominated to replace Francis Murnaghan? Murnaghan was born in Baltimore and died in Baltimore. He went to college in Maryland, was Assistant state attorney general in Maryland, 1952-1954. He was in private practice in Baltimore from 1954-1979. And, he sat in Maryland.

In stark contrast, Judge Trott's history is entirely different, as is the history of Judge Trott's seat. Judge Trott's seat is not a California seat. See here.

GG, as for Myers not making it out of committee (which of course is not yet clear), that could indeed have a bearing on Smith, because it could mean that an Idaho nominee more appealing to Feinstein may eventually take the place of Myers.

Well, good news that they got at least Smith through, more than I expected. But I don't see him get confirmed next week, unless there is some kind of deal with Feinstein.

Good news is that Jordan and Keisler will get out of committee next Tuesday. Jordan will be confirmed next week, he is non-controversial so he should likely get a floorvote on Thursday or Friday or so.
Hopefully there is enough floor time to get Keisler confirmed too. Don't know how much time the dems want for him.

The Oklahoma nominee's name is Greg Frizzell, not Kent Frizzell. Kent Frizzell was a Kansas AG and is the nominee's father.

I've fixed that in the post.