Word has clearly gone out to the conservative machine, because this is everywhere.
As the Senate returns from a week-long recess, Republicans are reminding everyone that four years ago today, President Bush nominated Priscilla R. Owen and Miguel A. Estrada to federal appellate courts. Neither received a Senate confirmation vote, Republicans note, because of Democratic filibusters.
But let’s flesh out what the talking point doesn’t tell you.
First, it ignores some recent history, particularly in regards to Clinton’s judicial nominees.
* Judge Richard Paez was nominated to the 9th Circuit of Appeals. He waited more than four years for a confirmation vote and faced a Republican filibuster.
* Judge William Fletcher, another 9th Circuit nominee, waited four years for a confirmation vote.
* Judge Helene White, a 6th Circuit nominee, didn’t even get so much as a hearing by Orrin Hatch for over three-and-a-half years.
If Republicans want to whine about lengthy delays, they’ll have to get in line.
Second, the talking point itself doesn’t make a lot of sense. Miguel Estrada’s nomination is not pending in the Senate, so the fact that he was sent to the Senate for consideration four years ago is largely irrelevant.
As for Owen, she, too, has not exactly been languishing, waiting for some word for the Senate. Lawmakers already considered her nomination and she wasn’t confirmed (thanks to a Dem filibuster). Bush sent her nomination to the chamber again, but the talking point suggests that her nomination has stood at a standstill for four years. That’s not the case.
In fact, using the Clinton nominees as an example, Owen’s had it easy. Clinton nominees were given a White House nomination, followed by … absolutely nothing. Senate Republicans simply acted as if many of these nomination didn’t exist. They waited, some as long as four years, without any word at all about their fate. In some cases, Republicans wanted to run out the clock on Clinton’s presidency; in other cases, they didn’t even have an excuse.
For all the GOP complaints of late, their whining doesn’t resonate because it’s drenched in so much hypocrisy. As Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel said yesterday:
“The Republicans’ hands aren’t clean on this either. What we did with Bill Clinton’s nominees — about 62 of them — we just didn’t give them votes in committee or we didn’t bring them up.”
Exactly. When Dems have blocked 62 Bush nominees and allowed the vacancy rate on the federal judiciary to drop to frightening depths, then we can have a serious conversation about this.