vince wrote: > > Whatever bipartisan ship there was, Bush destroyed himself by going > after those Democratic senators who had voted with him.
It's sickening to hear him keep saying he'll work with both sides of the aisle. Sure he will, as long as both sides see things his way. > With bipartisan ship, fragile as it was, shattered, what it means is > that nothing will be able to block judicial nominees - and Supreme Court > appointees - from reaching the floor. Pro choice Senator Leahy will no > longer chair the Senate's Judiciary Committee. So your anti-choice > nominees will get on the bench. Your anti-gay and lesbian rights > appointees will get on the bench. The Pickering and Owens nominations > will reach the floor. Go and celebrate. Bush will be nominating judges for the lower courts, too, which is important because not only will they be affecting the people who appear in the courtroom before them, but also because Supreme Court judges are chosen from among them. When Clinton was in office, the Republicans approved very few of his nominees, so there are now a lot of openings just waiting to be filled by conservatives... >From today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/07/politics/campaigns/07JUDG.html?ex=1037709012&ei=1&en=36e241aafa13f883 Stalled Nominations to the Bench Suddenly Get a New Life November 7, 2002 By NEIL A. LEWIS For President Bush and Senate Republicans, the most concrete satisfaction in winning control of the Senate may come in early confirmation of several candidates for the federal bench whose nominations were blocked or defeated by Democrats who said they were too conservative. ... Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican who will again become majority leader, said the Republican gains should be seen in part as an endorsement of Bush nominees, whom Mr. Lott described as "strong on law and order." In the short term, Republican Senate aides said, the party's victories mean that the handful of appeals court nominees whose confirmation has been held up in the Judiciary Committee will receive swift consideration and approval. They include Miguel Estrada, a Washington lawyer nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Michael C. McConnell, a University of Utah law professor nominated to the 10th Circuit court, in Denver. Both are staunch conservatives whose hearings in the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee were contentious. Other appeals court nominees will now receive swift hearings of their own, and votes, early next year, Republicans said. In a more defiant spirit, White House and Senate aides said they even expected Mr. Bush to renominate two candidates whom the committee defeated outright: Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi and Priscilla R. Owen of Texas, both rejected as nominees to appeals courts. "I don't see why not," a senior Republican aide said. "We didn't have the votes before. We do now." ********** Chilling. I feel a cold wind blowing... Debra Shea
