The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is now one-third empty: there are five vacancies on the 15-member bench. The Senate wants to fill those vacancies, but the president’s nominees have proven to be so controversial that he’s been forced to pull a few who couldn’t even pass an up-or-down vote.
To help Bush out, Virginia’s senators — John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D) — compiled a list of five bipartisan selections who are qualified and confirmable. The president, true to form, blew off the Virginians’ list and did what he always does — he nominated two ideologues who are going to spark a fight.
Not just any ideologues, mind you, Bush picked real doozies. First up is Steve Matthews.
Now, I am certain Mr. Matthews is an able lawyer, and the fact that he has logged no time at all as a judge should not necessarily count against him. But a brief glance at his résumé suggests that Matthews’ strongest credentials for this federal appeals court seat include his role as former state chapter president of the Federalist Society, and ranking close behind that is his membership on the board of directors for the Landmark Legal Foundation.
The Landmark Legal Foundation? Wait: Isn’t that the outfit run by Mark R. Levin, the man who brought us Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America? The constitutional theory proffered in that book was, as you may recall, that any judge who arrives at a different legal conclusion than Levin or Rush Limbaugh is an “activist” who threatens America with imminent “tyranny.” Matthews is thanked by name in Men in Black. Is it a bit strange that Bush’s latest judicial nominee was intimately involved in a best-selling book that argues for kneecapping the federal judiciary?
Why, yes, it is. It’s also odd that the Landmark Legal Foundation’s most notable recent contribution came when the group nominated Rush Limbaugh for a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The group’s nominating letter argued that “everyday [sic] he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law.”
Bush picked one of the group’s directors, who has never been a judge a day in his life, to have a lifetime position on a federal appellate court, one step below the Supreme Court. Seriously.
And then, there’s Bush’s other 4th Circuit nominee.
[Webb and Warner were] rudely smacked upside the head with the president’s second nominee, Virginia’s E. Duncan Getchell, whom they’d met with but left off their final list. Maybe from Bush’s point of view, that’s a selling point for him. Is Bush truly this tone deaf?
Getchell is best known for being active with the Federalist Society (natch), and has also never been a judge.
This is a reminder of what we’ve seen repeatedly for almost seven years — Bush would rather fight than govern. What’s important isn’t filling those 4th Circuit vacancies; what’s important is not filling those vacancies and giving right-wing activists something to whine about.
We’ve seen this game before. The White House will send unqualified ideologues to the Senate for consideration … Senate Dems will balk … the president will bluster about the crisis in judicial vacancies … Dems will implore Bush to send real nominees who can be confirmed … far-right groups will use the fight to raise a lot of money … culminating in a recess appointment.
I can’t wait for grown-ups to be in charge of the White House again.