Litigation

Panel Approves Two Controversial Nominees

By Peter Hardin

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two controversial nominations for federal judgeships by party line votes Thursday.

For the second time, the panel sent President Obama’s nominations of former Wisconsin Justice Louis L. Butler Jr. and U.S. Magistrate Edward Chen of California to the full Senate. Their nominations were resubmitted by the president after they had lapsed without Senate action in December.

It was the second time the panel approved Butler’s nomination by a 12-7 vote, according to an article by the State Bar of Wisconsin. The Blog of Legal Times predicted the two nominees “face dim prospects in the Senate unless they pick up some GOP support.”

To learn more about the nominations, see Gavel Grab. To read about the role partisan politics plays in confirming judge nominees, check out Justice at Stake’s issues page.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).