Federal Judiciary

Specter to Obama: Renominate!

By Quin

As reported by our friend Curt Levey, Arlen Specter is now pushing (http://www.committeeforjustice.com/blog/2009/01/specter-to-obama-renomin...) President Obama to renominate up to three Bush judicial nominees: Paul Diamond, Glen Conrad or Peter Keisler.

As a frequent advocate (http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/QuinHillyer/Quin-essential_cas...) of such renominations, especially for Keisler (http://www.examiner.com/a-1278077~Quin_Hillyer__Judge_knot_still_holds.h...) , I wholeheartedly applaud Specter.

That said, why do I suspect a deal is in the works? Why do I suspect that Conrad and Keisler are window dressing for Specter's letter?

Note that Diamond is a Pennsylvania pick, under Specter's purview -- and a very late pick at that: http://www.confirmthem.com/pratter_out_diamond_in.

Diamond and Specter go back together for 30 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S._Diamond) . And elevating Diamond also clears the way for a district judgeship for another longtime Specter insider, Carolyn Short (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423251503) -- who, it must be noted, has very significant Democratic ties herself. But there is no evidence that either Diamond or Short is particularly conservative. They certainly aren't conservative to the same degree that Roger Gregory (the Clinton nominee renominated by Bush) is liberal. But by appointing Diamond and Short both, Obama could claim to have met Bush's record of bipartisan olive branches on the judiciary -- withOUT really angering the left to the same extent that, say, a renomination of North Carolina's Robert Conrad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Conrad) would.(MORE)

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Full post as published by ConfirmThem on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).