Senate Republicans are in the midst of another temper tantrum, hurling accusations against Senate Democrats that the pace of confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees is too slow. Never mind that during the Clinton Administration, the Republican-controlled Senate repeatedly blocked scores of Clinton nominees, not even giving them a hearing or a vote and keeping seats on courts vacant literally for years on end. Never mind that President Bush's judicial nominees have fared far better under the leadership of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy. Hypocrisy is not a word found anywhere in the Republican Dictionary of the American Language. But chutzpah certainly is.
Senate Republicans are trying to turn Peter Keisler, a co-founder of the Federalist Society and a former law clerk for Robert Bork, into a poster boy for alleged foot-dragging by Democrats on Bush's judicial nominees. Keisler has been nominated by Bush to fill the 11th seat on the D.C. Circuit, one of the most important appellate courts in the country. Back when President Clinton tried to fill this very same seat, Senate Republicans blocked those efforts, claiming that the court's caseload was not heavy enough to justify having 11 judges. Well, that caseload has decreased in the interim, yet Republicans are now stomping their feet, demanding that Keisler be confirmed.
The federal courts are already stacked with hundreds of Bush judges, judges who will be on the bench for a generation or more after Bush leaves office. In decision after decision, Bush judges are undermining Americans' legal rights and cutting off their access to justice in the courts. In the waning days of the Bush presidency, Republicans are trying one last push to pack the federal courts with even more such judges. They are threatening to shut down the Senate over this.
If Senate Republicans want to look even more foolish, I say go ahead, make my day.
Judith Schaeffer
Legal Director
People For the American Way
www.pfaw.org