Feature Story from civilrights.org
Tyler Lewis
November 16, 2006
President Bush's decision on November 15 to renominate ten judges he pulled in early October has angered civil rights groups who say he is missing an opportunity to work in a bipartisan fashion with the newly Democratic Senate.
"President Bush is serving up the same closed-minded, extreme right-wing nominees who the Senate has rightfully refused to confirm," said Earthjustice Senior Legislative Counsel
Glenn Sugameli. "President Bush has squandered an opportunity to start over on judicial nominations in a way that would honor the Senate's constitutional duty of advise and consent."
Some of the nominees have been nominated and pulled at least
two times already this year. Civil rights groups say that Bush's attempt to push controversial nominees is just a tactic to "promote a hard right agenda rather than seeking to move the nation forward through consensus."
Nominees Terrence Boyle, Michael Wallace, William G. Myers, Norman Randy Smith, William J. Haynes, and Peter D. Keisler each raised significant concerns when they were originally nominated. Civil rights groups, including the Alliance for Justice, the NAACP, and People For the American Way, said that their track records on civil rights made them unsuitable for lifetime seats on federal courts.
"These judges have built up a record that is dismissive of civil rights issues. The Bush Administration pulled their nominations twice now. His dogged attempt to nominate these guys at all costs is alarming," said Leadership Conference of Civil Rights (LCCR) President and CEO Wade Henderson.
Senate concerns over the nominees' records on issues like civil rights and the environment also weighed down the nominations this year. On September 5,
Senator Patrick Leahy, D. Vt., called Bush's August 30 renominations a "dangerous distraction" from vital issues the Senate must address.
In 2005, the Bush administration also renominated controversial nominees who had previously been blocked by the Senate, including Judge Priscilla Owen and Attorney General William Pryor.
Both were later confirmed as part of a compromise, reached by 14 Senators known as the "Gang of 14," to avert a Senate showdown over the use of filibusters to block judicial nominations.
"Despite what the President would like us to believe, these nominees are not moderate, fair-minded judges who have the letter of the law and our best interests at heart," said
Henderson. "They are part of a bigger Bush agenda: a move to pack our courts with out-of-the-mainstream judges who are driven by ideology - not the law. LCCR opposed them when they were first nominated and we opposed them when they were renominated. Let us hope such a grave mistake is not made a third time."
