White House and Senate Compromise on Most Judicial Nominations

WASHINGTON â€”  In an unusual display of election-year harmony, Senate Democrats and Republicans, along with the White House, struck a political compromise Tuesday that cleared the way for confirmation of a number of President Bush’s less controversial judicial nominees.

Bush pledged not to bypass the Senate by appointing judicial nominees to the bench while Congress is in recess. In return, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said the Democrats agreed to allow votes on 25 judicial nominees.

The spirit of compromise only goes so far, however; Daschle said Democrats would continue to filibuster several of Bush’s judicial nominees whom they regarded as too conservative.

The agreement drew grudging acceptance from the president’s conservative allies. In a typical comment, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said: “It’s not something that I like, but it’s a way to get more judges, and it’s the best we can do right now.�

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the agreement, which lasts through the end of Bush’s current term, a “temporary cease-fire in the ongoing war� over judicial nominees.

White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said, “President Bush believes it’s important to fill judicial vacancies in a timely manner, and this agreement is an important step toward meeting that objective.�

Judicial appointments have long been a contentious matter. Bush and his congressional Republican allies have accused Democrats of obstructionism to prevent confirmation votes; Democrats have accused the president of trying to make lifetime appointments of federal judges who will undermine environmental protections, abortion rights and civil rights.

This year, Bush appointed Alabama Atty. Gen. William H. Pryor Jr. and U.S. District Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi to appeals courts while Congress was in recess. In response, Senate Democrats blocked votes on any further judicial nominations.

Daschle said Democrats would continue to oppose confirmation of the most controversial nominees, including those of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to federal appellate court seats.

Daschle, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. worked out the agreement as the Senate prepared to recess for Memorial Day. Immediately after it was announced, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Marcia Cooke, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s former chief inspector general, to the federal bench in Florida.

Two Californians -- El Centro Magistrate Roger T. Benitez in San Diego and Los Angeles lawyer George P. Schiavelli -- are now expected to be confirmed as federal judges.

Elliot E. Slotnick, a political scientist at Ohio State University who has studied judicial nominations, said the agreement benefited both sides.

Democrats, he said, can point to the absolute number of confirmations of Bush nominees and claim that the focus should be on that figure, not the relatively few that have been held up. “It becomes more difficult for the Republicans to charge the Democrats with obstructionism,� he said.

Slotnick said Republicans could claim victory on the 25 confirmations, noting that “there could easily have been none.� The GOP can also continue to fight “at some symbolic level� over the contested nominations, he said, “and hope that satisfied the conservative elements in their electoral base.�