Senate Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a 2006 date for hearings on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, challenging President Bush's call for confirmation by year's end.
"There's no way you can do an honest hearing by the end of December, or a fair hearing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In a jab at the White House and the Senate Republican leadership, Leahy said he and the panel's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter could likely agree on a date for confirmation hearings if left to themselves.
Specter, R-Pa., was noncommittal on timing for hearings for Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "This is a swing vote on the Supreme Court.... I don't know enough yet to say whether it's realistic by the end of the year," he said.
Alito has been involved in 1,500 or more cases during 15 years on the appeals court, and he has authored an estimated 300 rulings.
Conservatives in and out of the Senate have greeted Alito's nomination warmly, many saying they hoped he would move the court to the right if confirmed for O'Connor's seat.
Liberals, pointing to rulings on abortion, gun control, the death penalty and other issues, have already raised the threat of a filibuster, an attempt to deny Alito a yes-or-no vote by the Senate. Republicans hold 55 seats in the Senate, and while confirmation requires a simple majority, it takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Republicans have responded to the threat by saying they would seek a vote to abolish the filibuster in cases of Supreme Court and federal appeals court nominations.
A showdown over that issue was narrowly averted last spring when seven lawmakers from each party brokered a compromise. But already, two of the seven Republicans involved in that compromise _ Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina _ have indicated they would side with their leadership this time. That suggests Democrats would lose a showdown if it went that far.
No comments:
Post a Comment