Republican senators are drawing a line in the sand with the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Some Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are holding up the nomination on the basis of two decisions that Southwick joined, but didn’t write.
GOP committee members are touting the qualifications of Southwick and debunking the criticism in an effort to get him an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Ranking member Arlen Specter said light is a good disinfectant.
“If the American people get wind of what’s happening," he said, "there’ll be a lot of pressure to bring him to the floor for a vote, and if that happens, I think he’ll be confirmed.”
There had been an agreement between Specter and committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to pass Southwick on a voice vote. Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice said that’s when the special-interest groups pounced.
“The groups on the Left – People for the American Way, Alliance for Justice, various civil rights groups – are demanding that the Democrats block this nominee," he said.
And the opposition is trying to send a message as well.
“They realize that if you can stop a nominee for absolutely no reason – you have absolutely nothing against him – then you can effectively stop any nominee," Levey said.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said, "It should alarm America that these groups are effectively in control of our federal judiciary, and that certain senators could have so little integrity that they would parrot the falsehoods being fed to them about Judge Southwick.
"This situation demands an immediate and forceful response, so that the confirmation process is not permanently hijacked by these radical groups."
Specter said it’s up to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to decide how much opposition to express in the full Senate, but he’s ready to draw the line.
“I think we have to make a test case of this," he said. "If we knuckle on this one, I think we’re in deep trouble for the balance of the president’s term.”
Specter said if they can’t get a nominee as qualified as Southwick confirmed, we could see a return to the days of filibusters and nuclear options.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Is a little confrontation such a bad thing? Bruce Hausknecht talks more about Southwick's nomination.
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