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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (3978)	7/30/2003 12:47:01 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793606

Looks like these Judges will continue to hang up until after the 04 election. GOP Presses for Votes on Judges Senate Republicans Force New Vote on One Nominee, but Democrats Vow to Prevail By Helen Dewar Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, July 30, 2003; Page A04 The Senate plunged back into its bitter struggle over President Bush's judicial choices yesterday as Republicans forced a new vote on one of his most controversial nominations and Democrats again blocked action. After nearly three months without a confrontation over judges on the Senate floor, Republicans are scheduling votes every day this week -- as the Senate prepares to shut down for its month-long summer recess -- in hopes of portraying Democrats as anti-Bush "obstructionists." Democrats are using the occasion to characterize the nominations as emblematic of the administration's "right-wing" agenda. While the Senate's feuding over judges does not appear to have resonated widely with voters, both parties intend to use it to mobilize their core constituencies, especially on issues such as abortion. "Clearly we want to highlight this new level of obstruction" by forcing the Democrats to demonstrate again that they are blocking an up-or-down vote on the nominations, said Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "In every case," responded Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), "these nominees fall outside the mainstream" and deserve rejection by the Senate. In yesterday's roll call, the Senate's Republican majority fell seven votes short of the 60 needed to force a final confirmation vote on the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla R. Owen to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. The largely party-line vote was 53 to 43, basically the same as it was on two previous occasions this year. As before, two Democrats -- Sens. Zell Miller (Ga.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) -- broke ranks to oppose the Democratic filibuster. No Republicans voted to continue the stalling tactics. Republicans described Owen as highly qualified, but Democrats have said she is a pro-business, anti-abortion activist who lets her personal beliefs guide her legal actions. Another vote is scheduled today on Miguel A. Estrada, who was tapped by Bush for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia but has been blocked five times by the Democrats, who have said they expect to prevail again today. Democrats are also signaling they will probably move to block one or two other appeals court nominees, including the highly contentious choice of Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr. to serve on the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Pryor's nomination was narrowly approved by the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote last week amid an emotion-charged debate over GOP charges that Democrats were opposing him because of his devout Catholic beliefs on abortion and other sensitive issues. Republicans plan to schedule a vote on Pryor's nomination for Thursday. After a discussion of Pryor at their weekly luncheon, Democrats said no one spoke up for him and several expressed outrage over Republicans' accusations of anti-Catholic bias. While no formal position was taken, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a Judiciary Committee member and outspoken critic of Pryor, said, "In my judgment, there will be a filibuster and we will prevail." A vote is planned for Friday on a fourth appeals court nominee, Carolyn Kuhl, a California jurist chosen by Bush for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Democrats have said her nomination may be filibustered, too. In a sign of escalating tensions over tactics in the nomination war, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), ranking Democrat on the judiciary panel, mounted a counterattack on the religion issue, accusing Republicans of a "religious smear" to chill debate over whether Pryor would be a fair judge. Leahy appeared at a news conference with religious leaders who deplored the injection of religion into the debate. "Even to hint that a Judiciary Committee member's opposition to a judicial nomination is based on the nominee's religion is a cause for alarm," said C. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister and president of the Interfaith Alliance, a nondenominational organization opposed to use of religion for partisan purposes. washingtonpost.com