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Yes, It Runs Both Ways.

Thursday, February 13th, 2003

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Republicans too played obstructionist to President Clinton’s judicial nominees (and to several important DOJ appointed positions, most notably Bill Lann Lee). Given my growing contempt for the Republican Party, it causes me no great pain to say that the GOP was just as belligerent then as the Dems are now (though in general, I’d say GOP-appointed judges do less damage than Democrat-appointed judges).

Clinton’s solution was a nifty little end-around called a “recess apointment.” That is, he’d wait until congress went home, then he’d make his appointments. Said appointments could then serve for one full year without a confirmation vote. Once ensconced in their positions, it became difficult for the GOP-controlled congress to vote them down.

Laura Ingraham, whom I normally find a little annoying, had a delicious suggestion on Imus this morning. Given the Democrats’ obstruction of the Estrada nomination, she said that Bush too should make a recess apointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals — but that he should appoint….are you ready?….Robert Bork! — the judge whom the Democrats blackballed back in the Reagan administration to start this fifteen-year game of good-for-the-goose in the first place.

I’m not crazy about Bork. But my respect for Bush would jump to the stratosphere were he to attempt such a ballsy move. And I bet Bork would do it.

Also, I just have to draw attention to this wonderful line from lefty blogger Daily Kos’s coverage of the Estrada filibuster, heaping praise on Senator Handsome:

The opposition is being plotted by Daschle, Reid, and the Dems on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As a member of that committee, John Edwards is taking a laudable high profile on the issue.

Laudable high profile? Ha! Everything the guy does is high-profile! That’s like saying, “Senator Kennedy courageously bellied up to a Capitol Hill bar Tuesday…” Or, “Senator John McCain boldly agreed to sit down for an hour with Larry King last night…”

I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 13th, 2003 at 5:36 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “Yes, It Runs Both Ways.”

  1. #1 |  MM |  February 13th, 2003 at 7:52 pm

    I am not sure the Republicans were *just* as bad: my understanding from a friend who once worked for Democratic member of the Judiciay Committee was that Hatch was generally fair, and tried to broker cloture votes on Dem candidates, although a number of judicial nominees in Clinton’s last year in office were deliberately left hanging. But this kind of partisan filibuster–if its successful–will be unprecedented.

    That is not to excuse Republicans: the votes on judicial nominees of each administration have gotten increasingly contentious. This is the last, and hence the worst, in the series–which is not a compliment to the Republicans, just an accidental contingency. And, sadly, it probably will get worse before it gets better.

    In the process, mainstream guys like Miguel or Roger Gregory (a black Democratic corporate defense attorney who was similarly tarred as an “extremist” by Republicans, defeated, and given a recess appt.. . . only to be reappointed by Bush as an olive branch to Dems (one of the few of Bush’s appellate appointees that Dems did let make it through)–arbitrarily get screwed. And at the same time, Congress’s institutional authority erodes: nominees who rightly perceive that politics trumps substance will be even less open, presidents will make more recess appts. and other attempted end-runs around Congress. Not good.

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  2. #2 |  Anthony Sanders |  February 14th, 2003 at 12:53 pm

    I’m not sure Bork would do it. I saw him last summer and he’s REALLY OLD. Still smoking, though.

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