OneNewsNow.com: Conservative Groups to Senate Judiciary: Get Moving

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http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/07/conservative_groups_to_senate_judiciary_get_moving.php

 

Conservative groups to Senate Judiciary: Get moving!

Ed Thomas
OneNewsNow.com
July 27, 2007

A letter from nearly 60 conservative, pro-family, and public interest groups has been sent to all the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking that they "put statesmanship above politics and special interests" in order to make substantial progress in approving judicial candidates out of the Committee.

Groups including Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, American Family Association of Pennsylvania, Liberty Counsel, Family Research Council, Judicial Watch, and more than 50 others signed on to the letter delivered Wednesday to the senators.

The letter calls the lack of progress in reporting judicial nominees out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate -- particularly U.S. Courts of Appeal nominees -- a matter of not fulfilling constitutional duties of advice and consent in good faith. It cites statistics, including only four appeals court nominee hearings and only three of those put to vote, in the first six months of the new Congress -- as well as at least five appeals court nominees and 14 district court nominees still waiting in committee to go to the full Senate, some for more than a year.

"At that pace," says the letter, "the Senate will fall far short of the historical average of 17 circuit court confirmations during a president's last two years in office. Fortunately, [that] average can be achieved if you and your colleagues are willing to eschew partisan politics in favor of fairness and fulfilling your constitutional duty."

The letter says "personal attacks" and "obstruction borne of partisan politics" against nominees like Judge Leslie Southwick -- an Iraq War veteran from Mississippi -- only "add to the public perception that [the] committee is not living up to its responsibilities."

The signatories simply request the Committee act in a timely and constitutional manner. "If you cannot support a particular nominee, vote him or her out of committee without a positive recommendation, or vote against confirmation," they say. "But please do not deny the nominee a fair up-or-down vote on the Senate floor."