WP: Battle of Judicial Nominee Resumes

[Pirate Smile]

Battle of Judicial Nominee Resumes
GOP Leaders Eye Action on Filibuster

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 2, 2005; Page A15

A new hearing on a recycled nomination yesterday did nothing to lessen the likelihood of a dramatic Senate showdown this spring over President Bush's judicial appointees, key senators said.

Appellate court nominee William G. Myers III's second hearing in two years largely echoed the first: Democrats attacked his environmental record and Republicans defended it. When it ended, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said nothing had changed. He said he counts 58 Senate votes favoring Myers's confirmation, putting supporters within "hailing distance" of the 60 needed to overcome Democrats' stalling tactics.

Instead of gaining ground, however, Myers's backers appeared to be struggling not to lose it. Sen. Ken Salazar (Colo.), one of the Democrats Specter is banking on, sent a letter to Bush urging him to withdraw Myers's nomination and those of other judicial appointees whom Democrats blocked last year.

In January 2004, when Salazar was Colorado's attorney general, he signed a letter "strongly" supporting Myers's confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco. A spokesman yesterday said Salazar "remains undecided" on Myers and other judicial nominations working their way toward the Senate floor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62765-2005Mar1.html

[Pirate Smile]

1. Look at this re Biden.

"Last July, 53 senators -- seven short of the necessary 60 -- voted to end a filibuster and let Myers's confirmation come to a roll call. The only incumbent Democrats who voted to end debate were Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.). With Republicans now holding 55 seats, they need five Democratic supporters to end such a filibuster this year. Biden said yesterday, "My inclination is to vote the way I did last year" on Myers, and Democratic leaders say they assume Nelson will do the same. "