Start of filibuster fire can be traced back to Schumer
BY TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU
May 20, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The battle royal over judicial appointments and filibusters now preoccupying the Senate can be traced back to an op-ed article published four years ago by a little-known senator from New York.
Newly named as chairman of a Senate subcommittee on the courts, Sen. Charles Schumer wrote that his fellow Democrats could reject President George W. Bush's nominees based on ideology, not just qualifications and temperament.
That laid the groundwork for a political showdown with Bush, who is seeking to change the federal courts by appointing conservatives such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
In 2003, after Democrats lost several Senate seats, Schumer persuaded party members to begin the unprecedented practice of filibustering extreme judicial nominees to avoid their confirmation by the GOP majority.
That set in motion a counterpunch by Republicans to use their majority to strip the Democrats of the use of filibusters for judges, a step now being heatedly debated in the Senate.
"I basically was the person," Schumer said in claiming responsibility yesterday, before he headed to the Senate floor to read the names of all 208 of Bush's nominees that won confirmation, as a contrast to the 10 blocked by Democrats in the past two years. He is one of four Democrats coordinating the fight against the nominees.
The federal bench is the one issue on which he is a total partisan, he said.
Schumer, 54, has expanded his portfolio and influence in Congress and in his party, serving on three key Senate committees - Finance, Banking and Judiciary - and chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
His aggressive approach on judges should come as no surprise, say those who know him.
"First of all, it's something his constituency cares about," political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said, noting that New Yorkers are concerned about judges and liberal issues such as reproductive freedom.
Beyond politics, Sheinkopf said, "this is obviously something personal. He really cares."
Although Schumer projects an image of a crusader against a right-wing ideological onslaught, people who have worked with him say, in the words of a former aide, that "temperamentally, he doesn't like to oppose the president."
Another assistant confided a few years ago as the fight over judges began to heat up that while Schumer was blasting Bush for his court choices he was also pressing his staff to find ways to work with the White House.
Indeed, Schumer often holds up as an example the deal he managed to cut with Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, and then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to allow him a say on selecting judges from New York.
"That's smart," said Sheinkopf, who has worked with Schumer. "It protects his ability to get judges appointed."
Also, Schumer finds common cause with conservatives on national defense, law and order, and Israel.
So Republicans can hear him damn their court nominees as extremist and still say good things about him.
Makan Delrahim, the former Republican staff director on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Schumer an "honest man" and "one of the smartest and more enthusiastic senators I know."
Even Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who as Judiciary Committee chairman sat through hours of hearings in which they fought mightily over Bush's judicial picks, gave Schumer a pass. "That's just Schumer being Schumer," he said.
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