FIGHT OVER JUDICIAL NOMINEES TWIST, TURNS
For a few days last week, the future looked bleak for federal judicial nominees. Some Senate Republicans announced plans to further bog down the confirmation process on Capitol Hill, based not on qualifications for the bench, but as a response to President Barack Obama‘s controversial recess appointments to consumer and labor agencies two months ago. Senate Democrats then made an unusual move to force full votes on 17 judicial nominees, a procedure that would have tied up the Senate floor for weeks. With just hours to spare, cooler heads prevailed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed to move forward on 14 of the 22 largely uncontroversial judicial nominees awaiting Senate confirmation by May. The new pace, about two confirmation votes per week, doubles the average so far this session. Yet the agreement did little to address the root issues of the delay or the high number of judicial vacancies. As Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) put it at a committee hearing: The fight over judges “is exactly what makes Americans sick of what we’re doing.” — Todd Ruger
PALIN’S VETTER TAKES HEAT IN HBO MOVIE
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