Post by sclcookie on May 30, 2006 0:18:39 GMT -5
Senate Confirms Kavanaugh for D.C. Circuit Seat
White House aide Brett Kavanaugh won Senate confirmation as an appeals
judge Friday after a wait of nearly three years, yet another victory in
President Bush's drive to place a more conservative stamp on the nation's
courts.
Kavanaugh, confirmed on a vote of 57-36, was warmly praised by Republicans
but widely opposed by Democrats who said he is ill-suited to sit on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
In a statement, Bush said Kavanaugh will be "a brilliant, thoughtful and
fair-minded judge."
The confirmation represented a victory for Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, whose efforts to fill more
federal court seats with Bush's nominees have been bedeviled by Democratic
objections. 5 weeks ago he informed the Senate that he expected Kavanaugh
to be confirmed by Memorial Day.
"I am committed to confirming additional judicial nominees to the bench
who will practice judicial restraint and interpret the law strictly and
impartially," Frist said Friday.
The vote marked the latest in a string of confirmations for conservative
appellate court nominees in the year since a centrist group of senators
agreed on terms designed to prevent a meltdown over Bush's conservative
picks.
Kavanaugh was not mentioned by name in an agreement announced by the
so-called Gang of 14, but his nomination was pending at the time and he
figured in the discussions. More recently, the seven Democrats who were
members of the group had intervened in his case, calling for a 2nd
Judiciary Committee hearing into his appointment. Sen. Arlen Specter,
R-Pa., chairman of the panel, agreed, defusing any threat of a filibuster
designed to block a vote.
Still, Democrats highlighted the American Bar Association's recent
downgrading of their rating of Kavanaugh from "highly qualified" to
"qualified."
"It's clear that he is a political pick being pushed for political
reasons," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the
Senate Judiciary Committee. "This is not a court that needs another rubber
stamp for this president's exertion of executive power."
The White House and Specter said Kavanaugh's Ivy League education, a
Supreme Court clerkship and other work have prepared him well to become a
federal judge. Specter's committee approved the nomination along party
lines.
"It is hardly a surprise that Brett Kavanaugh would be close to the
president because the president selects people in whom he has confidence,"
Specter said. "Brett M. Kavanaugh must be confirmed."
The filibuster threat softened after Specter granted Democrats' request
for a new hearing at which Kavanaugh testified. The nominee told Democrats
he played no role in the White House formulation of policies on detainees,
domestic wiretapping or any relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack
Abramoff.
Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, was an assistant to
independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the impeachment probe of
President Clinton and he worked on behalf of the Bush campaign during the
election recount in 2000.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal-oriented lobbying group People for
the American Way, said that Bush and Senate Republicans "have succeeded
today in putting a partisan lapdog into a powerful, lifetime position on
the federal bench. Brett Kavanaugh has spent his career as a partisan
operative, carrying out the will of the Bush administration and twisting
legal arguments to benefit his political ideology."
(source: Associated Press)
White House aide Brett Kavanaugh won Senate confirmation as an appeals
judge Friday after a wait of nearly three years, yet another victory in
President Bush's drive to place a more conservative stamp on the nation's
courts.
Kavanaugh, confirmed on a vote of 57-36, was warmly praised by Republicans
but widely opposed by Democrats who said he is ill-suited to sit on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
In a statement, Bush said Kavanaugh will be "a brilliant, thoughtful and
fair-minded judge."
The confirmation represented a victory for Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, whose efforts to fill more
federal court seats with Bush's nominees have been bedeviled by Democratic
objections. 5 weeks ago he informed the Senate that he expected Kavanaugh
to be confirmed by Memorial Day.
"I am committed to confirming additional judicial nominees to the bench
who will practice judicial restraint and interpret the law strictly and
impartially," Frist said Friday.
The vote marked the latest in a string of confirmations for conservative
appellate court nominees in the year since a centrist group of senators
agreed on terms designed to prevent a meltdown over Bush's conservative
picks.
Kavanaugh was not mentioned by name in an agreement announced by the
so-called Gang of 14, but his nomination was pending at the time and he
figured in the discussions. More recently, the seven Democrats who were
members of the group had intervened in his case, calling for a 2nd
Judiciary Committee hearing into his appointment. Sen. Arlen Specter,
R-Pa., chairman of the panel, agreed, defusing any threat of a filibuster
designed to block a vote.
Still, Democrats highlighted the American Bar Association's recent
downgrading of their rating of Kavanaugh from "highly qualified" to
"qualified."
"It's clear that he is a political pick being pushed for political
reasons," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the
Senate Judiciary Committee. "This is not a court that needs another rubber
stamp for this president's exertion of executive power."
The White House and Specter said Kavanaugh's Ivy League education, a
Supreme Court clerkship and other work have prepared him well to become a
federal judge. Specter's committee approved the nomination along party
lines.
"It is hardly a surprise that Brett Kavanaugh would be close to the
president because the president selects people in whom he has confidence,"
Specter said. "Brett M. Kavanaugh must be confirmed."
The filibuster threat softened after Specter granted Democrats' request
for a new hearing at which Kavanaugh testified. The nominee told Democrats
he played no role in the White House formulation of policies on detainees,
domestic wiretapping or any relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack
Abramoff.
Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, was an assistant to
independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the impeachment probe of
President Clinton and he worked on behalf of the Bush campaign during the
election recount in 2000.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal-oriented lobbying group People for
the American Way, said that Bush and Senate Republicans "have succeeded
today in putting a partisan lapdog into a powerful, lifetime position on
the federal bench. Brett Kavanaugh has spent his career as a partisan
operative, carrying out the will of the Bush administration and twisting
legal arguments to benefit his political ideology."
(source: Associated Press)