ConfirmThem

Unfortunately, in order to force the Dems to start processing the likes of Keisler, Conrad and Matthews, Specter has to risk delaying or losing the confirmations of Pratter and Short. Would he be willing to do this? If not, all Leahy has to do to keep Specter in line is to tell him to shut up or neither Pratter nor Short will get confirmed. Because of this, my guess is that Specter won't be rocking the boat until after the final Senate floor vote on Short has occurred.

Bobo is correct--as he almost always is--wouldn't Leahy put off the vote on Short as long as possible? When is it currently scheduled to occur?

Leahy must know that Specter must roar if nominees are not moving through the pipeline in a normal fashion. I can't understand why Leahy is not moving a few district court nominees at this time.

From my perspective, the Dems want to safeguard a handful of circuits at all costs. They don't care about the 5th, 7th, 8th or 10th Circuits as they are occupied by predominately Republican appointees. The Dems want to keep control of the 2nd and 9th. They also want to strictly maintain the current composition in the DC, 1st, 3rd, 6th and 11th. By their action, they seek to flip the 4th Circuit by any means necessary.

With this in mind, I think they will approve Haynes and Pratter in that order. Two women and no men this year for the COA seats. Bobo may be right, but I think that Pratter will the next COA nominee to get a hearing. She will be confirmed in June. This type of action will keep Specter at bay for the next three months. Thereafter, the so called Thurmond Rule will come to the forefront.

Specter should call the Chief Judge of the 4th Circuit to testify about the judicial emergencies that exist in the 4th and the hardship that it imposes on the judges and the people in that circuit.

Leahy has said several times that he will process Agee as quickly as possible and get him confirmed as a reward for the White House finally playing "nice" with the Webb/ Warner list.

Because of that, I say Haynes is confirmed in April, Pratter in May and Agee in June. Then in July the real fighting begins over Keisler, Conrad and Matthews. Kethledge, Murphy, Stone, Rosenstein and Smith won't even be discussed due to the blue-slip policy.

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/508018.html?nav=511

"The Senate has managed to find time to distract itself with all manner of ephemera, yet purposely is shirking one of its most fundamental duties: To fulfill its constitutional advice and consent role in the confirmation of appointees to the federal appellate courts.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, without doubt carrying out the wishes of his fellow Democratic leaders, has virtually halted confirmation hearings, even though the number of vacancies on some circuit courts has reached, in the estimation of the judiciary itself, emergency levels."

"The president, for his part, shares part of the blame — not for the quality of his nominees, which is as strong as ever, but for his failure to publicly push harder for confirmations. We hardly expect this PR-challenged president to change his stripes seven years into his administration, but a high-profile speech or two about the condition of the judiciary would help break loose the politically jammed gears on Capitol Hill.

If this is an example of what ascendant Democrats meant when they crowed that they’d bring greater “transparency” to Washington, one shudders to think how they would behave if they controlled both the White House and Congress."

The Dems know that Specter and all other Repubs on the SJC will not fight about judges during this election year. Leahy has Specter by the short hairs on the Pratter nomination to the 3rd Circuit. No other Repubs on the SJC are willing do anything that will yield results.

As of 4/7, no nominees have been confirmed whatsoever. Leahy is engaged in the slowest slow walk of all time. Reid won't bring up any of the four district court nominees on the Executive Calendar who have been waiting for about a month. The Leahy/Reid two-step slow dance is nothing more than minimal action with no confirmations. Specter's grand plan is to slow down the process even further. What's wrong with this picture?

At this website, we all know that the issue of judges is a winning topic with the voters in November. I read the above mentioned article in the WSJ on this very issue in Wisconsin.

Perhaps we have not thoroughly analyzed the situation here. Perhaps the Repubs have secretly agreed not to push the judges this year in order to have a major election issue this fall. We just might have a Leahy/Reid/Specter three-step slow dance on our hands. Let's face it--we have feigned outrage on the right, but no action. I see just two COA confirmations this year--Haynes and Pratter, both women. Ultimately, this may be the biggest poker game of the decade with the winner take all in November. The contol of the Supreme Court and the 4th Circuit are in the balance.