Free Republic

WASHINGTON, April 20 - As the Senate moves ever closer to a partisan showdown over confirming President Bush's judicial choices, the Judiciary Committee is expected to vote along party lines on Thursday to approve at least two nominees certain to attract a Democratic filibuster in the full Senate. That is fine with those Republicans and their conservative allies who are pressing for a change in Senate rules to prevent filibusters on judicial nominees, an action that could plunge the chamber into an angry deadlock. The reason the champions of a rule change are pleased is that they believe the two...

March 14, 2003 Judicial Nominee Gets Second ChanceBy NEIL A. LEWIS ASHINGTON, March 13 — The Texas Supreme Court justice whose nomination to a federal appeals court was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee when it was controlled by Democrats last year got a rare second chance today as she appeared before the committee, which is now in Republican hands. The justice, Priscilla R. Owen, who was turned down on a strict party-line vote last September, can almost certainly count on being approved on a strict party-line vote in the next two weeks. Her renomination by President Bush and the...