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Press Office - Articles
NOMINEES DESERVE BETTER
Author: Elizabeth Dole
Publication: Washington Times |
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May 20th, 2005 - As the battle over judicial nominees and the role of the filibuster reaches its decisive moment, let's remember that more is at stake than the rules and procedures of the Senate.
Resorting to half-truths and invective to advance a political objective — the establishment of a new 60-vote supermajority requirement for the confirmation of federal judges — is deeply unfair to those who have spent a lifetime building reputations for fairness and intellectual probity.
Take the case of two women now at the center of the filibuster controversy, Justices Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. In describing Justices Owen and Brown, some of my Democratic colleagues and their allies have employed phrases like "far out of the mainstream," "radical extremists," "far-right partisans," "hostile to civil rights" and "right-wing judicial activists."…
… By now, after years of standing by as their reputations were battered, Justices Owen and Brown are no doubt hardened veterans of the filibuster wars. So, too, is Judge Terrence Boyle, who has been nominated by President Bush for a seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Boyle, now a federal district court judge in North Carolina, was first nominated for this new appellate position some 14 years ago, but — unbelievably — he has yet to receive an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
While the Democrats cannot plausibly justify overturning more than 200 years of Senate tradition by filibustering the president's judicial nominees, let's also remember it is equally unacceptable to treat these nominees as political pinatas to further this aim.
Justices Owen and Brown, and Judge Boyle have earned their reputations as common-sense jurists who apply the law fairly and impartially. Attacking their good names will not diminish the simple fact that they are qualified to serve and merit an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
For full text, please go to: http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050519-092938-3618r.htm
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