Posted on 03/26/2004 4:39:17 PM PST by neverdem
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March 26, 2004
Senate Democrats Threaten to Block More Bush NomineesBy DAVID STOUTASHINGTON, March 26 Senate Democrats threatened today to block all of President Bush's judicial nominations unless the White House promised not to name any more judges while Congress was away. "These actions not only poison the nomination process," the minority leader, Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, said. "They strike at the principle of checks and balances that is one of pillars of American democracy." Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Mr. Bush's use of recess appointments "a finger in the eye of the Constitution." Five weeks ago, President Bush used a Congressional recess to install William H. Pryor Jr., the Alabama attorney general, in a federal appeals court seat to get around a Democratic filibuster that had blocked his nomination. Mr. Pryor will be able to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, until the end of the next session of Congress meaning sometime in the fall of 2005. The Pryor appointment was the second time this year that Mr. Bush used a president's power to make appointments when Congress is not in session to name judges directly to the bench and thus skirt the Senate confirmation process. In January, Mr. Bush named Charles W. Pickering Sr., whose nomination had also been blocked by Senate Democrats, to a seat for the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans. He, too, will have to step down before many months, unless there is a huge shift in the Senate and he is able to win confirmation. "We will be clear," Senator Daschle said today. "We will continue to cooperate in the confirmation of federal judges, but only if the White House gives the assurance that it will no longer abuse the process and that it will once again respect our Constitution's essential system of checks and balances." President Bush and his chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, were in the Southwest today and thus not ready to respond immediately to the Democrats' move. Senator Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, the majority leader, called the tactic "posturing" and told reporters no administration would rule out recess appointments. Senate Democrats have blocked several of Mr. Bush's nominations on grounds that his choices are out of the judicial mainstream and have shown an insensitivity to civil rights. Mr. Bush has said the Democrats are playing politics and in so doing thwarting honest, highly qualified people.
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A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Sadly, included in the Republican Senate majority of 51 are some pretty weak lnks: Chaffee, Snowe, Collins, Specter, McCain...
Yes, but there could come a time in a Democrat administration when a Republican supermajority is the only gate left on the highway to hell.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) is threatening to stall President Bushs judicial nominees if the president does not take action soon to appoint more than a dozen Democrats to government boards and commissions.
Daschle: Move Dem nominees (to stall Bushs judicial picks unless 12 RATs are appointed)
Hey, let's go for this deal. We can trust them. /sarcasm
"These actions not only poison the nomination process," the minority leader, Senator Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, said. "They strike at the principle of checks and balances that is one of pillars of American democracy."
Man, this is rich. How do Democrats face their families, their colleagues, and themselves in the mirror everyday? So, denying an up or down vote, and fillibustering judicial nominees is a checks and balances pillar?
Explain this to the "Bush bashers", in detail, that have no political patience. Paawlease??
There. Now the title is correct!
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Mr. Bush's use of recess appointments "a finger in the eye of the Constitution."Good grief ! I say he should do recess appointments every time Congress is out !
If Congress is closed in October, give them an October surprise: Recess appoint EVERY one in which they are filibustering that is KNOWN to have enough votes to pass, if they weren't blocking them from getting a vote !
I can hear the 'RAT Halloween howling already !! hahaha !
Democrats threaten to block judicial nomineesSenators want Bush to stop appointing judges while Congress is out
08:49 PM CST on Friday, March 26, 2004
WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Friday threatened to stop all of President Bush's judicial nominees until the White House agrees not to appoint judges while Congress is out of town.
Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Democrats had decided to block all judicial nominees on the Senate floor until "the White House gives us the assurance that they will no longer abuse the process."
Democrats have been upset that Mr. Bush gave temporary federal appellate judgeships to Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor while the Senate was out of town.
"The president's use of recess appointments to circumvent the advise-and-consent process puts a finger in the eye of the Constitution," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Republicans said Mr. Bush wouldn't have had to use recess appointments if Democrats hadn't been blocking his nominees. They also argued that the Constitution gives the president clear authority to put his nominees on the bench temporarily when Congress is not in session.
"To suggest that President Bush has somehow gone outside the power conferred upon him under the U.S. Constitution is not true," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
The White House is unlikely to comply with Democrats' demand.
"No administration is going to rule out" recess appointments, said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
"It's unfortunate the lengths that Sen. Daschle and a minority of Senate Democrats will go to obstruct the normal judicial confirmation process," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said
Democrats also say the White House is refusing to appoint Democratic nominees to fill their vacancies on federal boards and commissions. Many of the boards and commissions require both Democrats and Republicans to serve, but the Democrats are being held up by the White House, Mr. Daschle said.
"A divisive form of political gamesmanship has been allowed to extend to the nomination process itself," Mr. Daschle said. "Talented candidates are being prevented from serving their nation. And the views and communities they represent are not being heard. And the American people are losing out as a result."
Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over judicial nominations since Mr. Bush took office.
The Senate has approved 173 of Mr. Bush's judicial nominations, but Democrats have used the threat of filibusters to block Mr. Bush's appeals court nominations of Judge Pickering, Mr. Pryor, lawyer Miguel Estrada and judges Carolyn Kuhl, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. Mr. Estrada withdrew his nomination in September.
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/032704dnnatjudges.9f7d.html
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