The compromise piece together by Senate moderates seems to be working with long-delayed nominations sailing through as the Democrats keep their promise — but the next step will be to see how Republicans treat Democrats when they exercise their part of the agreement.
Still, that’s down the road and yesterday was a day for Republican celebration:
The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday approved former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor and Michigan nominees David McKeague and Richard Griffin for seats on the U.S. Appeals Court, completing an unprecedented run of long-delayed judicial confirmations.
With a vote of 53-45, Pryor was approved for 11thU.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Atlanta-based court that handles federal appeals from Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Griffin was confirmed 95-0 and McKeague 96-0, both for seats on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
“These three nominees have waited a combined total of over eight years for their votes,”President Bush said in a statement. “I applaud the Senate for today giving these fine nominees the up-or-down votes they deserve.”
Bush gave Pryor a recess appointment in February 2004 after Democrats filibustered his confirmation. That appointment would have ended this year if Pryor had not been confirmed. Bush said Pryor’s service on the 11th Circuit built on a judicial career in which he “has applied the law fairly and impartially to all people.”….
The Senate confirmed three of President Bush’s most-wanted appellate nominees in less than three weeks after Senate centrists looking to avoid a partisan battle over judicial filibusters struck a deal.
So one part of the deal is working: the part of the deal that benefits the GOP. Soon the Senate will get a nominee that the Democrats object to and the REAL test will begin: will Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and those who wanted the “nuclear option” to eliminate the filibuster on judicial nominees then insist that no matter what the Democrats argue a contested nominee doesn’t fall under “exceptionial circumstances” and try to undo the compromise? Quite possibly.
The compromise is more of a cease fire than political disarmment. If that happens expect heightened bitterness since the GOP is now clearly getting what the Democrats promised the White House it would get: on up and down votes.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.