Tuesday, March 11, 2003
judicial nominations
As the Post is reporting, the Senate's attention will soon be turning from Estrada to other appellate court nominees, including two to the Fifth Circuit (Pickering and Owen, both of whom have already been rejected once). Thus we will see whether the filibuster of Estrada is merely a high profile one-shot thing, or whether it is the seed of a strong Democratic push for more moderate nominees overall. Given the Supreme Court's unanimous and nearly-unanimous reversals this Term of various "conservative" positions taken by the Fifth Circuit*, it will be relatively easy for Democratic Senators to make the case that that court needs a more moderate-leaning "balance". We will see if Republicans do want to change the longrunning problems in the nominations and confirmations process, and to reach some agreement to achieve that balance.
* See, e.g., Sprietsma, unanimously rejecting the position of the Fifth Circuit; Cook County, unanimously rejecting the position of the Fifth Circuit; Miller-El, reversing Fifth Circuit by 8-1 vote.
posted by sam 10:15 AM 
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(The Return of) Ignatz, by Sam Heldman