President Obama greeting Rep. David Scott at joint session of Congress.
President Obama has been
fighting members of his own party, as well as a number of progressive organizations, over his decision to defer to Republicans in Georgia and designate a couple of right-wing nominees—Michael Boggs and Mark Cohen—for elevation to the federal bench. In what could be a peace offering from Obama, he's
put forward Leslie Abrams to serve as a federal district court judge in Georgia, not in place of Boggs, but for another vacancy. It appears not to be working.
"The Abrams nomination is a good move in the right direction to fill the vacant judicial seats in Georgia," Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.). said Wednesday.
"I'm happy that this young lady, Ms. Abrams, was nominated to serve," said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). "She's qualified, she's paid her dues and she'll make an excellent district court judge." […]
Neither Scott nor Johnson said Abrams' nomination would be enough to make them relax efforts to derail Boggs and Cohen.
"The focus on a couple of the earlier unacceptable nominations will not stop until they are denied lifetime appointments," said Scott.
"When it's all said and done, I only have one craw sticking at me," said Johnson. "That is the former legislator who showed his political leanings with his votes to not get rid of the Confederate emblem on Georgia's flag, to make it more difficult for women to get the health care they need, and also for his stand on the constitutional amendment stating that marriage was between a man and a woman."
The same is true for NARAL Pro-Choice America, which has been lobbying senators to reject the nominees. Georgia's Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, are thus far noncommittal as to whether they'd support Abrams. The Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule hearings on any of the Georgia nominees. It's not too late for President Obama to withdraw Boggs and Cohen, and to proceed with nominees who would provide a much more fitting legacy for his presidency in their lifetime appointments.
If you have a senator on the Judiciary Committee, sign and send the petition to reject Michael Boggs’s nomination to the U.S. District Court in Georgia.