I hope that you enjoy my new Confirmation Tales post, “Bob Dole Puts Judges At Center Of 1996 Presidential Campaign.” While Bill Clinton easily won re-election, he did so in spite of, not because of, his judicial nominations. Indeed, in his speech at the Democratic convention in which he reviewed his supposed accomplishments during his first term, Clinton avoided making any reference to his judicial appointments. In defending himself from Dole’s criticisms, Clinton also undermined the practice of senatorial deference that so benefited him.
An excerpt:
In the midst of a trip to Russia, Clinton rebutted [Dole’s criticism of some of his judicial picks] by stating that Dole “voted for 98 percent of the judges that I appointed.” … White House counsel Jack Quinn offered the same rejoinder, as did unnamed “White House officials,” who “pointed out” to the Post that Dole “had supported all but three* of Clinton’s 185 nominees to the federal bench, as well as his two nominees to the Supreme Court, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.”
The White House rebuttal was factually accurate. But, as Dole explained, he was according extensive deference to the president’s picks. He was not hinging his vote on whether the nominee was someone he would have selected. Nor was he looking for every opportunity to register dissatisfaction with a nominee. On the contrary, while any single senator could have prevented the unanimous consent that was needed to dispense with a roll-call vote, Dole and every other Republican senator allowed voice votes rather than recorded roll-call votes on all but two of Clinton’s lower-court nominees in his first term….
Every president wants senators to give him a lot of deference on his judicial nominees, all the more so when the Senate is in the control of the opposing party. There is plenty of room to debate how much deference has in fact been provided at various times and how much should be. But any claim by the president for deference from opposite-party senators presupposes that the president will accept accountability for his judicial picks.
In deploying Dole’s deference against him for political advantage, the Clinton White House was telling Republican senators that it would stick them with a share of the blame for Clinton’s bad picks. In doing so, it was jeopardizing the deference that it needed to get its nominees confirmed.
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