ConfirmThem

Assuming the article is accurate, at least Webb acquiesced to several names. (Better than Specter tossing out one name -- and that of a liberal Dem).

What are the ideologies of these people? Qualifications? Who are the best?

How many VA seats does Bush get to nominate for again?

I don't know which of these 5 are the best, but pick 2 and be done with it. Might be better to fill the split state seats now and leave the 2R seats for later if it is possible.

Bush needs to nominate 3 more, 2 out of VA, NC, and SC, and then either the 3rd in that trio or the IN seat.

Lemons and Douglass would be homeruns. Conrad is solid but no need to disrupt a District Court seat. My preference is Prof. Alan Meese of William & Mary Law School, who was on the original VA Bar Assn. list. His credentials are stellar:

http://www.wm.edu/law/facultyadmin/faculty/meese-114.shtml

Hey, but I'm not complaining. If Warner AND Webb will support Lemons and Douglass, I say nominate them TOMORROW!

http://web.archive.org/web/20070614013448/http://law.richmond.edu/facult...

http://law.richmond.edu/faculty/jdouglass.php

I don't know about Agee and Ambro, though Ambro is a plaintiff's lawyer so I don't trust him right off the bat.

Been thinking about it:

If Wilkins is able to delay his senior status for 6 months:
1. We don't lose a vote on the critical Guantanemo en banc case.
2. With Lindsey Graham on the Judiciary committee, SC might be an easier fill approaching 2008 than VA or NC.

The next few confirmations need to be to the 4th: the 3rd is unfillable, the 5th is already stacked, and the 6th is going nowhere.

plus SC is over-represented on the court, so if push comes to shove, a case could be made to convert Wilkins' seat to NC, or possibly VA (Webb might even be helpful in that case, to fill 2 of the 3 seats, plus the NC seat). not that push should come to shove with Graham on the SJC and a strong conservative colleague in DeMint.

on the conservatism of some of the nominees, Matthew Friendly. If you are right -- and I assume you are -- yes, nominate Lemons and Douglass within the week.

Alan Meese sounded good to me, too. However, there is no reason to nominate him at this point.

Both Lemons and Douglass have excellent credentials and are in their 50s.

Maybe Webb won't be horrible on judges. And maybe he is somewhat offended that so many southern nominees being blocked in spite of doing nothing more controversial than their norther counterparts (a timely example is Southwick). Dubious on both points I suppose, but still possible. I'm sure by now he has been told the adage that Congressmen are often elected by mistake, but seldom reelected by mistake.

Bush should nominate Lindsay Graham to the 4th Circuit. Sanford could replace him and we'd have a reliable conservative in that South Carolina senate seat. Graham would take it because it would position him to become AG in a McCain administration or even his SCOTUS nominee(dream on Lindsay).

The 4th is too crucial and too jeopardized to play around with. They've played that frivolous game for years and look what happened! All (2 or 3) nominations made in the next 3-4 months should be to the 4th: N.C., S,C. and VA in that order. That will take us through January at least for confirmations. We can't afford to get cute and fancy at this late date. Dems will cherry-pick any other circuit nominee to further delay 4th Circuit ones. They're already doing that with the 4 N.C. nominees, in case you haven't noticed.

What gives with the Michigan 3 not having votes yet? They have all made it to the Ex Calendar finally. There seems to be quite a few judges on the floor come to think of it. I have really just given up. That Immigration thing just really sucked the life out of me. That and I have been getting busy signals almost everytime I try to call any Senators. Until the Amnesty Bill is gone one way or the other judges are totally on the back burner for EVERYONE - senators and constituents. At this point I would consider getting just a Keisler confirmation during the 110th a victory. :(

The nomination to the N.C 4th Circuit seat should definitely come first. Conrad sounds like a good and confirmable nominee.

As per the suggestion by zendari, the VA seat could come before S.C. as long as Webb is on board. Or the nominations could be concurrent. It might be tactical to pocket one VA seat first while Webb is amenable. As long as Graham doesn't wander off the reservation again, it might be a good lesson to make him wait a little.

But fundamentally and again, the next 3 nominations should be to the 4th if Virginia if gettable. Then we could all sleep a little better come February.

He doesn't want to be McCain's Attorney General; he wants to be Vice President.

No way he leaves his Senate seat for a stint on the 4th.

There are 7 District judge nominees presently "languishing" on the Executive Calendar. Actually, the four others have been there longer than the Michigan Three, and Jonker has only been there since last Thursday. The Washington nominee Benjamin Settle has been on the Ex Calendar since April 25th, and I've never heard anything about his being at all controversial. No nominee has been confirmed since May 9th (Livingston) and no District nominee since May 8th (Kapala).

I think the Senate Democrats are storing up these nominees to release in a trickle from late June to the end of July. That will help to hide the dismal fact that they will hold hearings for only three DJ nominees at most in both June and July.

Only about 9 hours to go. Whatever happens, one way or another tomorrow is going to be a day to remember. A bit trite perhaps, but nevertheless true. Good night.

if Lindsey Graham is ever a nomination away from the Supreme Court.

Southwick is now key to what happens with COA nominees.

It's time for McConnell to step up.

Romney or Fred.

Conrad is out. The NC seat seems to be radioactive...

Are the seats in each circuit court divided up by state by law or is this tradition? Either way, is there a listing somewhere of how many seats each state is entitled too?

Here's somebody who is not on the 4th Circuit list, but who SHOULD be on the list, even though some joker at the White House apparently rejected him for an earlier slot for which he was considered: Miller Baker, former top aide to Orrin Hatch, strongly supported by George Allen (when he was there), but Sen. Vitter and former Rep. Livingston of LA, and by a number of other good conservatives, yet who also has great "good government" credentials that can be attested to by folks like Norm Ornstein. Miller is a class act. It will be ridiculous if the eight-year-long Bush administration ends without a judgeship for Miller.
Quin Hillyer

It's not legally divided, but in practice tends to end up that way, split approximately by population.

Though, since the Senate is clearly unable to do its job, I wonder if new nominations will do a whole lot of good...

Well, Douglass looks at a casual glance to be the best of the bunch, and Albro is retired Navy and could probably be sold as a moderate (I'm not saying he is) with lots of real-world experience.

But like Zendari said, this list is pre-approved, so pick two and fast track 'em, and bring this nightmare partially to a close.

As for Graham, he is more unfit for the Judiciary than his buddy is for the Presidency. OK, not quite, but absolutely no way he should be picked, esp. for SCOTUS.