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November
15, 2002 3:20 p.m.
A
Senate Shutdown Over Judges?
Liberal
interest groups pressure Democrats to start a major fight.
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Capitol Hill, there are reports that Senate Democrats are engaged in an
increasingly contentious fight among themselves that could shut down the
Senate during its busy lame-duck session.
At
issue is the nomination of Dennis Shedd to a seat on the Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals. Liberal senators like Massachusetts Democrat Edward
Kennedy have long opposed Shedd, accusing him of being "insensitive"
to the rights of minorities. That opposition was enough to keep Shedd's
nomination bottled up in the Senate Judiciary Committee for more than
a year.
On
the other side, Shedd has particularly strong support in some Republican
circles because he was a long-time Senate staffer, serving as chief counsel
of the Judiciary Committee when it was chaired by South Carolina Republican
Strom Thurmond. Several Republicans have interpreted Democratic opposition
to Shedd as a slap at the nearly 100-year-old Thurmond as he leaves the
Senate.
Shedd
was finally approved by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Although
some had said that chairman Patrick Leahy would allow a vote on Shedd
as a gesture of "goodwill," Democrats, including Leahy, used
the meeting as an opportunity to attack Shedd before allowing the nomination
to pass on a voice vote. Shedd survived because a single Democrat, Delaware's
Joseph Biden, had pledged to support him.
After
the committee meeting, representatives of the liberal interest groups
People for the American Way, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Alliance
for Justice, and NARAL all urged Democratic senators to continue the fight
against Shedd in the full Senate. Wade Henderson, head of the Leadership
Conference on Civil Rights, warned that "controversy will follow
these nominations to the Senate floor."
Now,
it appears that that is happening. There is word that several Democrats,
including Kennedy, Leahy, and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, are working to
organize a filibuster that would prevent a full-Senate vote on the nomination.
Such a move would be highly controversial, even among Democrats, because
it could tie the Senate up in procedural knots at a time when lawmakers
are racing to finish work on the Department of Homeland Security and other
measures during the lame-duck session.
It
is also an extraordinarily risky move politically. Some Democrats, apparently
including Majority Leader Tom Daschle, are worried that a filibuster against
Shedd could hurt the election prospects of Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary
Landrieu, who faces a runoff election next month. Some Democrats believe
that the party's opposition to Bush judicial nominees hurt Democratic
candidates in Georgia, Missouri, and Texas, and they believe an anti-Shedd
filibuster would add Louisiana to that list.
On
the other hand, some key Democrats are said to be worried that a quick
confirmation of Shedd would anger the NAACP and other African-American
groups that strongly oppose the nomination. The party desperately needs
those groups to help in get-out-the-vote efforts in Louisiana, and Democrats
are loath to do anything that might alienate them at this crucial time.
At
this moment, the situation is in flux, with heated negotiations going
on on all sides of the issue. It is unclear how the dispute will be resolved,
and insiders believe it might stretch into next week.
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