Wednesday, February 07, 2007
MCCONNELL FOCUSES ON JUDGES AS GOP DEFINES TOP PRIORITIES
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is signaling to colleagues that he will take a personal and leading role in pressuring Democrats to confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, an issue that has received little attention since the election.
Republican senators agreed to make judicial nominees one of their top priorities at a one-day retreat held Friday at the Library of Congress before a meeting with Bush at the White House...
"McConnell kicked off the private talk on judges and reiterated his expectations of Democrats on judges during a press conference Monday.
'Senate Republicans expect that Bush be treated the same way during the last two years of his presidency as each of the last three presidents were treated in the last two years of theirs when the Senate was controlled by the opposition party,' McConnell said yesterday.
McConnell said that during the last two years of the Reagan, the first Bush, and the Clinton administrations, the Senate confirmed an average of 17 circuit court nominees , adding that conversations with Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) have left him optimistic 'that standard will be met.'
But that baseline would set a slightly faster pace for judicial confirmations than what the Senate followed in the last Congress when it confirmed 16 circuit nominees, according to the Department of Justice.
'That's a recognition that the best leverage we have isn't on the committee but on the floor, the ability to use leverage on the floor to insist on an up-or-down vote for judges,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), vice chairman of the GOP conference and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With a one-seat advantage on Judiciary, Democrats could slow the pace of judicial nominations to a trickle. But Republicans can pressure the panel to move more quickly by holding up Democratic legislative priorities on the chamber floor.
'I'm very encouraged by Sen. McConnell's personal interest in the subject,' Cornyn said. 'The role of the retreat was to agree on an approach and priorities.'"
Republican senators agreed to make judicial nominees one of their top priorities at a one-day retreat held Friday at the Library of Congress before a meeting with Bush at the White House...
"McConnell kicked off the private talk on judges and reiterated his expectations of Democrats on judges during a press conference Monday.
'Senate Republicans expect that Bush be treated the same way during the last two years of his presidency as each of the last three presidents were treated in the last two years of theirs when the Senate was controlled by the opposition party,' McConnell said yesterday.
McConnell said that during the last two years of the Reagan, the first Bush, and the Clinton administrations, the Senate confirmed an average of 17 circuit court nominees , adding that conversations with Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) have left him optimistic 'that standard will be met.'
But that baseline would set a slightly faster pace for judicial confirmations than what the Senate followed in the last Congress when it confirmed 16 circuit nominees, according to the Department of Justice.
'That's a recognition that the best leverage we have isn't on the committee but on the floor, the ability to use leverage on the floor to insist on an up-or-down vote for judges,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), vice chairman of the GOP conference and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With a one-seat advantage on Judiciary, Democrats could slow the pace of judicial nominations to a trickle. But Republicans can pressure the panel to move more quickly by holding up Democratic legislative priorities on the chamber floor.
'I'm very encouraged by Sen. McConnell's personal interest in the subject,' Cornyn said. 'The role of the retreat was to agree on an approach and priorities.'"
# posted by Michael Thielen @ 12:11 PM 
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John Fund also adds today (2/12/07) in the the Wall Street Journal Political Diary that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, "made a presentation to a group of conservative activists on Wednesday. Attendees came away 'very impressed' with his plans, according to Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation. He told the group his 'Number One' priority was to help President Bush win confirmation of more federal judges. A specific goal is to get 17 appeals-court judges through the process, which he says is the average recent Presidents have been able to win approval for when the Senate is controlled by the opposite party."
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