Committee approves nominee for federal appeals court seat

Many Democrats are against a proposal to end filibusters of judicial nominees.
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON -- The Senate continued its march toward a historic partisan showdown Thursday, as the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee approved another of President Bush's nominees to a federal appeals court despite threats from Democrats to block the nomination with a filibuster on the Senate floor.
At the same time, GOP leaders rejected a Democratic offer to confirm four long-stalled nominees, two of whom were filibustered last year. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Democrats should not be allowed to choose which nominees get confirmation votes and which do not. Democrats replied that Republicans are more interested in confrontation than compromise.
The Judiciary Committee, voting 10 to 8 along party lines, endorsed former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr., 41, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th District in Atlanta. Democrats used the filibuster -- which requires 60 votes to be stopped in the 100-member Senate -- to block Pryor's nomination during Bush's first term. Democrats said Pryor's conservative views are too extreme for a lifetime appointment to the appellate court. Bush later named Pryor to the court in a temporary appointment during a congressional recess, but Pryor must receive approval from the full Senate by the end of the year for a lifetime appointment.
Soon after the committee's vote, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Frist, in a floor speech, that he was willing to allow confirmation votes on four stalled nominees without demanding GOP concessions in return. Three of the four are from Michigan, the focus of a long-running dispute dating to Republican senators' blocking of several judicial nominees during Bill Clinton's presidency.
Waiting in the wings
The three are Richard Griffin, David McKeague and Susan Bieke Nelson, all appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The other judicial nominee that Democrats are ready to release, Reid said, is Thomas Griffith, appointed to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
In the past, Reid has insisted that Republicans drop their threats to change Senate precedents and prohibit filibusters of judicial nominees. But Reid said Thursday's offer had no strings attached because "we have to move forward."
Frist did not accept the offer, saying another stalled nominee -- Priscilla Owen of Texas, nominated to the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit -- is more deserving of a prompt vote after waiting more than four years. A Democratic activist with close ties to senators said Reid's strategy is "simply to make Frist look rigid and extreme and unwilling to deal on any level."