House Member Drops Out of Running for U.S. Judge
Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) asked President Bush yesterday not to nominate him for a federal judgeship, saying the Democratic takeover of the Senate made it unlikely he could get approved without a long battle.
The conservative Cox was widely expected to be among Bush's first nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals. But California's senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein -- both Democrats -- had threatened to use their home-state veto, or blue slip, to block his appointment.
Under Senate tradition, having both senators from a candidate's home state opposed to the nomination would make it almost impossible for it to be considered.
Feinstein recently agreed to let his nomination go through, Cox said, but with Democrats in control, it would be unlikely that Boxer's objections could be overruled without a long battle.
Cox is up for reelection next year. California law says a special election would have to be held within three months of his confirmation as a judge.
"If the Senate confirmation vote were delayed until next year, then it is possible no special election would occur at all," Cox said in a letter to Feinstein. "As I am unwilling to leave 700,000 people unrepresented in Congress for up to a year, the prospect of 'blue slip' delay is unacceptable in my circumstances."
Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont defected from the Republican Party this week, giving control of the chamber and its Judiciary Committee to the Democrats.
"It's a shame [Cox has] been basically trashed without even giving him any consideration," said outgoing Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). "He met every qualification for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and I feel bad that he was trashed by representatives from California."
Cox becomes the first judicial casualty of the Democratic takeover. From the point when they learned that they would be in control of the Senate, Judiciary Democrats warned Bush that they would not let hard-right conservative nominees through the Senate.
"Judges will have to be moderate," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is in line to become chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on courts. "Everything will have to be moderate."
Cox was expected to be among Bush's first 11 appeals court nominees, but the White House did not send his name to the Senate after Feinstein and Boxer made their concerns known.
Cox's withdrawal came as Bush made two more nominations for the federal appeals bench, his 15th and 16th since taking office.
He nominated U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Pickering, 63, is a native of Jones County, Miss., and received his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Mississippi. He has been a judge in the Southern District of Mississippi since 1990.
Timothy Tymkovich, of Denver, was nominated to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Tymkovich, 44, is a graduate of Colorado College and the University of Colorado School of Law. He was Colorado's solicitor general from 1991 to 1996 and is a partner in the firm of Hale, Hackstaff Tymkovich & ErkenBrack.
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