Litigation

Senate to Vote on Controversial Nominees?

By Peter Hardin

Senate Democratic leaders appear close to forcing votes on a group of controversial federal court nominees picked by President Obama.

Democrats may move soon to cut off debate on the nominees through a device called a cloture petition, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said, according to an article in the Blog of Legal Times today.

Whitehouse is a backer of lawyer John McConnell Jr. for a federal district judgeship in Rhode Island. McConnell  is opposed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (see Gavel Grab).

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid also is trying to clear the way for votes on the following candidates (click on their names to learn more from Gavel Grab): appeals court nominee Goodwin Liu; California nominee Edward Chen; and Wisconsin nominee Louis Butler Jr.

On Monday, conservative leaders wrote Reid and urged  him ?in the strongest possible terms not to use the ?lame duck? session to force votes on the confirmation of any nominees for federal office.? Learn more about the backlog of judicial nominations, and the politics involved, from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on November 17, 2010 (boomark / email).