It’s been nearly a year since the [tag]Senate[/tag] nearly tore itself apart over Bush’s most conservative judicial nominees and the “[tag]Gang of 14[/tag]” got together to help the chamber avoid the [tag]nuclear option[/tag]. Now, it seems we’re poised to see the sequel.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday quietly blocked consideration of President Bush’s three-year-old nomination of White House aide [tag]Brett Kavanaugh[/tag] as a federal appeals court judge, beginning a process that may trigger a constitutional test.
Under committee procedures, the Democrats can automatically block such a nomination only once. Kavanaugh is expected to be voted out of Judiciary on a straight party-line vote this coming week. Senate Democratic Leader [tag]Harry Reid[/tag] will come under heavy pressure to conduct a filibuster.
Assuming that Republicans cannot get the 60 votes needed for cloture, Senate Majority Leader [tag]Bill Frist[/tag] then intends to invoke the so-called nuclear option to confirm Kavanaugh by a majority vote. The showdown is expected within the next month.
Senate Dems said yesterday that they will “certainly” filibuster either [tag]Terrence Boyle[/tag], Brett [tag]Kavanaugh[/tag], or both. Kavanaugh is less qualified, but [tag]Boyle[/tag] was recently exposed by Salon.com for having ruled in multiple cases involving corporations in which he held investments, a serious breach of judicial ethics.
“I can’t imagine how President Bush could bring him to the Senate for confirmation,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters yesterday. If GOP leaders insist on a confirmation vote, he said, Democrats “without question” will launch a filibuster. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat of the Judiciary Committee, added on the Senate floor that Boyle is “somebody who has violated every judicial ethic you can think of.” He characterized the Bush nomination as “chutzpah beyond all understanding.”
Of course, Kavanaugh is hardly a better choice for a lifetime spot on the federal bench.
The New York Times editorialized today that Bush seems to have nominated Kavanaugh as part “a political reward” for his partisan, ideological efforts.
Senate Republicans have announced plans to push for a quick vote on Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination for a powerful appeals court judgeship has languished since 2003. There are good reasons the nomination has been kept on hold. Mr. Kavanaugh was unqualified then, and he is unqualified now. Moreover, since his Senate hearing in 2004, new issues have been raised that he should be questioned about, including what role, if any, he played in Bush administration policies like the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program.
Mr. Kavanaugh has been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often called the nation’s second most important court. A young lawyer with paltry courtroom experience, Mr. Kavanaugh does not have the legal background appropriate for such a lofty appointment. What he does have is a resume that screams political partisanship.
And what about the Gang of 14? According to Roll Call, they’ve already scheduled some face time with one another.
With the stage set for a confrontation over two controversial judicial nominations, Senators in the “Gang of 14” are expected to meet in the coming days to chart a strategy regarding what role the bipartisan group will play in trying to avoid another ugly battle over filibusters.
“We are going to meet,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said of the group of seven Democrats and seven Republicans, adding only that the session would occur “real soon.”
Bill Frist is anxious to pick this fight, so I expect it to get ugly, fairly quickly. Stay tuned.