If Senate Dems are going to filibuster another Bush judicial nominee, in turn prompting Senate Republicans to try the nuclear option, it apparently won’t be Thomas Griffith, a Bush nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n
Though the nomination seemed like a strong possibility for the first filibuster of 2005, late last week Senate Dems backed down<\/a> and cleared the way for Griffith’s confirmation.<\/p>\n The Senate’s former top lawyer received bipartisan support yesterday for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, putting him in line to become the first of President Bush’s second-term appellate nominees to be confirmed.<\/p>\n The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14 to 4 in favor of Utah lawyer Thomas Griffith’s nomination for a seat on the court.<\/p>\n The four Democratic votes for Griffith — Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Richard Durbin (Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Herb Kohl (Wis.) — would bring a final confirmation vote to at least 59 if all 55 Republicans vote for Griffith. That is one vote away from the 60 that preclude a filibuster. Democrats also have tended not to threaten filibusters on judicial nominees who receive Democratic votes in committee.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This came as something of a surprise. Griffith practiced law without a license in Utah for nearly five years, lost his D.C. law license, and passed up 10 opportunities<\/a> to take the Utah bar exam. (Practicing law without a license is illegal.) Better yet, the American Bar Association gave Griffith the lowest possible<\/a> passing grade for a judicial nominee. Just last fall, ranking Dem Pat Leahy saw this nomination going nowhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n “This is a man who practiced law in two states in violation of the laws — what a fine, fine standard the White House has” for judicial nominees, Leahy said. “In my state he would be prosecuted. I’ve never seen anything so unbelievable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n