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Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked today on the nomination of
Theodore Olson to be Solicitor General.
All nine committee
Republicans voted in favor of the Olson nomination while all nine
Democrats voted against it. Under the power-sharing agreement created
to deal with the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate, the tie vote means
that the matter will be referred to Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott for consideration by the full Senate. This is the first time
there has been such a deadlock under the new arrangement.
Ranking Democrat
Patrick Leahy continued his criticism of Olson at today's meeting,
suggesting that Olson "was playing word games" in his
testimony about the "Arkansas Project," the enterprise
in which conservative philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife teamed
up with the American Spectator magazine to investigate Bill
Clinton's past. "Mr. Olson has modified his answers over time,
his recollection has changed, and he has conceded additional knowledge
and involvement [in the project]," Leahy said.
Leahy was joined
by other Democrats including Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, who had
previously been the lone Democratic vote in favor of the nomination
of John Ashcroft to be Attorney General. Regarding Olson, Feingold
said he believed that the Solicitor General candidate "was
not forthcoming in his testimony."
After the vote,
a visibly frustrated committee chairman Orrin Hatch said the matter
would be sent to the majority leader to break the tie. "Who
the hell cares about the Arkansas Project anymore?" Hatch asked
his Democratic colleagues.
It's unclear
what level of opposition the Olson nomination will generate in the
full Senate. Forty-two Democratic senators voted against the Ashcroft
nomination, and recently 43 Democratic senators voted against the
nomination of John Bolton to a state-department position. It seems
likely that the Olson nomination will follow a similar path.
Hatch would
not predict when the Olson vote will occur. Asked what he believes
Democrats plan to do, Hatch told reporters after the meeting, "Who
knows what lurks in the deep, hidden recesses of the Democrats'
hearts?" Asked whether Republicans would have Vice President
Dick Cheney on hand for the full Senate vote on Olson, Hatch said,
"You can bet your bottom dollar on that, if that's what it
takes."
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