Constitutional Law

Judiciary Committee Advances Justice Department Nominees

The Senate Judiciary Committee has sent the nominations for three top Justice Department positions to the full Senate.

Elena Kagan's nomination for solicitor general passed 13-3, Thomas Perelli's nomination for associate attorney general passed 17-1, and David Kris's nomination for assistant attorney general for national security passed by a voice vote.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the ranking Republican on the Committee, remained reticent to advance Kagan's nomination, expressing concern about some of her views. Specter maintained that, in light of recently released memos written by Justice Department officials under President Bush, perhaps the Senate should be scrutinizing such nominees more closely.

However, as Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) noted, 'Every solicitor general who served from 1985 to 2009 – in either Democratic or Republican administrations – has endorsed [Kagan's] nomination.'

Meanwhile, Leahy has indicated that he expects another Justice Department nomination to be filibustered. David Ogden, President Obama's nominee to be deputy attorney general, also saw his nomination advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 14-5 last week.

However, Leahy says, 'Despite the strong support from law enforcement groups, children's advocates, civil rights organizations and former Democratic and Republican officials, and despite this Committee's bipartisan vote, Republican Senators have now chosen to filibuster the second of President Obama's nominations reported by this Committee. This is not a good start.' Senate Republicans have refused to answer related questions.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 05, 2009 (boomark / email).