Shortly after John Kerry conceded the presidential race, Bush struck the appropriate tone of reconciliation.
“So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.”
A month later, on Christmas Eve, the president made it overwhelmingly clear that he didn’t mean a word of it.
President Bush announced yesterday his intention to renominate 20 people previously blocked by Senate Democrats for federal court seats, setting the stage for a renewal of the bitter partisan battles over the makeup of the federal judiciary.
The president’s list includes seven appeals court candidates whose nominations were stalled on the Senate floor by Democrats, who said the nominees’ conservative views were out of the mainstream. The other nominations never made it to the full Senate. Buoyed by his reelection and a four-seat Republican gain in the Senate, Bush said he will submit the nominees’ names when the Senate returns to work next month.
In case there was any doubt about Bush’s attitude towards congressional Dems before, this should seal the deal. The White House wasn’t satisfied with over 200 judicial confirmations, the lowest vacancy rate in the federal judiciary in nearly a generation, or more first-term confirmations than any of the last three presidents. Indeed, Bush was furious about the Dems’ audacity in blocking a handful of his most extreme nominations.
To show his respect for dissent, Bush has decided — and announced quietly when it was less likely to garner attention — that he wants to fight the same fights all over again.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who has been a leader in opposing many of Mr. Bush’s judicial nominees, said: “In this opening shot, the White House is making it clear that they are not interested in bipartisanship when it comes to nominating judges. This starts to poison the well when everyone on our side was hoping to make a new start.”
Interestingly enough, however, criticism of last week’s announcement was not limited to Dems.
[T]he most notable reaction came from Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a Republican who is expected to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Specter, who was re-elected in November and seems to have survived a challenge from some conservative Republicans who had opposed his ascension to the chairmanship, suggested that he was also troubled by Mr. Bush’s announcement.
“It has been my hope that we might be able to approach this whole issue with some cooler perspective,” he said in an interview. “I would have preferred to have some time in the 109th Congress to improve the climate to avoid judicial gridlock and future filibusters.”
Mr. Specter, who said he had been talking to both Republicans and Democrats in order to improve the chances for compromise, said it might now be “difficult to change the atmosphere with the submission of these names.”
What a concept. Specter wanted to build up some semblance of cooperation in the coming months, in the hopes of toning down the rancor of the last session. But before he could even hold the committee gavel for the first time, word comes from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue that the president likes the old, noxious climate just fine, thank you very much.
Unfortunately, this is positioned to be a win-win for the White House. If Dems block these unqualified jurists, the new GOP majority will rewrite the filibuster rules; if Dems fail to block them, Bush is stacking with judiciary with more radical conservatives.
This is going to get ugly.