November
15, 2002 8:30 a.m. Left
Out
The
liberal activists who helped kill Bush judicial nominees now worry
about the Republican future.
ust
two weeks ago, they had easy access and real influence with the Democrats
who controlled the Senate Judiciary Committee. But Thursday, the leaders
of liberal interest groups like People for the American Way, the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights, NARAL, and the Alliance for Justice stood
in a hallway in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, their faces somber,
clearly dispirited by the election that gave control of the Senate to
Republicans. They vowed to keep up the fight against Bush judicial nominees
but conceded it would be much, much harder with the GOP in charge.
"We have
got to acknowledge that this is going to be a tremendous challenge,"
said Ralph Neas, head of People for the American Way. "The next few
years are going to be difficult," added Nan Aron of the Alliance for
Justice. "Disheartening," said Kate Michelman of NARAL.
The activists were
particularly upset because they had just lost two nomination fights, one
of which they had hoped to win. A few minutes earlier, the committee approved
the nominations of Dennis Shedd to a place on the Fourth Circuit Court
of Appeals and Michael McConnell to the Tenth Circuit. Vermont Democratic
Sen. Patrick Leahy, in his last meeting as chairman, pushed both nominations
through the committee.
It did not go smoothly
or quickly. Rather than simply vote on Shedd, Democrats took the opportunity
to bitterly denounce him as unfit to serve on a federal appeals court.
Leahy accused Shedd of being insensitive to the needs of people who have
filed discrimination suits against their employers in U.S. District Court
in South Carolina, where Shedd has been a judge for the last 12 years.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein accused Shedd of being insensitive to the needs
of African Americans. The Fourth Circuit, Feinstein said, is "a special
court" because one third of the people living in the circuit's area
are black. The fact that some civil-rights organizations oppose Shedd,
Feinstein said, is enough to disqualify him. "It's very hard for
me to understand how we should move ahead with an individual who presents
a red flag to a substantial part of the constituency he would be serving."
Sen. John Edwards joined in, saying Shedd has a "record of not ruling
in favor of victims of discrimination." Sen. Richard Durbin said
much the same thing.
The Democratic attacks
created a tense moment inside the committee room. Did Leahy and his colleagues
plan to kill one more Bush nominee before they lose power? It didn't seem
possible, since everyone knew that one Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden, had
said publicly he would vote for Shedd. Biden's vote was all the GOP needed
to approve Shedd and send his nomination on to the full Senate for confirmation.
Biden never appeared
at the hearing, nor did he leave instructions with Leahy about how he
intended to vote. Without the votes to kill the nomination, Leahy departed
from the usual procedure of asking the clerk to call of the roll of names
and have each senator say yes or no. Instead, Leahy called for a voice
vote.
All those in favor say aye, Leahy said, and every Republican there said
aye. All those opposed say no, he said, and every Democrat there said
no.
"The chair rules that the ayes have it," Leahy declared, although
anyone listening could see that the ayes did not appear to have it any
more than the nos did. The audience began to murmur, wondering exactly
what was going on. Apparently Leahy, knowing that in the end Shedd would
be approved, decided to lose by a simple voice vote rather than have each
senator commit himself to a yes or a no. The record would simply show
that Shedd was approved by the committee.
But after Leahy called the vote in favor of Shedd, Democrats began to
speak up, asking that their individual votes be recorded as no. By the
end, every Democrat — except the absent Biden — went on record
opposing Shedd.
It was a surprise
for Republicans. They had expected a few Democrats — Charles Schumer,
Durbin, Russell Feingold — to oppose Shedd, but they did not expect
that the entire Democratic side, other than Biden, would line up against
him. What had been billed by some as a gesture of goodwill from Democrats
ended instead as a parting shot.
Next, Leahy brought
up McConnell's name and announced that he, Leahy, would vote in favor
of the nomination. After that, there was no need for any more debate,
and McConnell was quickly approved.
In the hallway outside,
the liberal lobbyists were sorely disappointed. Shedd has an "abiding
hostility to civil rights," said Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
chief Wade Henderson. "This is a setback for those committed to civil
rights," said Ralph Neas. The vote was "a serious setback,"
said Kate Michelman.
But what seemed to dismay the liberal lobbyists even more than the Shedd
vote was the prospect that they will be on the losing end of more such
votes in the future. All tried to emphasize that the election was "not
a mandate" for George W. Bush to nominate conservative judges, but
all seemed to know that the president is unlikely to change his guiding
principles in selecting judicial nominees. And all worried that the results
of the election will make their job particularly difficult if, as many
believe, one or more Supreme Court justices decides to retire in the next
two years. "I hope this is not a harbinger of things to come should
a Supreme Court vacancy occur," said Michelman. "We have an
uphill battle."
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ust
two weeks ago, they had easy access and real influence with the Democrats
who controlled the Senate Judiciary Committee. But Thursday, the leaders
of liberal interest groups like People for the American Way, the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights, NARAL, and the Alliance for Justice stood
in a hallway in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, their faces somber,
clearly dispirited by the election that gave control of the Senate to
Republicans. They vowed to keep up the fight against Bush judicial nominees
but conceded it would be much, much harder with the GOP in charge.
