The Olson Project

ON May 17, in a small Senate hearing room jammed with journalists, it was payback time. Theodore Olson is eminently qualified to be solicitor general, and everyone in the room knew it. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the room also knew he had been George W. Bush’s Supreme Court advocate in the Florida recount controversy—so they wanted to punish him. And sadly, the Olson flap is not just payback, but prelude: It reveals the scorched-earth tactics determined Democrats are prepared to employ to block any Bush judicial nominee they don’t want to see on the bench.

The Democrats were basically putting Bush on notice: Even nominees that he thinks non-controversial might not be spared the Olson treatment—because controversies, if none exist, can simply be manufactured. Sen. Patrick Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, claims that Olson misled the committee at his confirmation hearing. At the hearing in question, Leahy noted that Richard Mellon Scaife had funded The American Spectator and its “Arkansas Project,” and asked Olson if he had been involved “in the so-called Arkansas Project at any time.” Olson replied that he had become aware of the project when he served on the magazine’s board of directors, but “I was not involved in the project in its origin or its management.”

About the Author

Kate O'Beirne

Featured Tags

ON May 17, in a small Senate hearing room jammed with journalists, it was payback time. Theodore Olson is eminently qualified to be solicitor general, and everyone in the room knew it. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the room also knew he had been George W. Bush’s Supreme Court advocate in the Florida recount controversy—so they wanted to punish him. And sadly, the Olson flap is not just payback, but prelude: It reveals the scorched-earth tactics determined Democrats are prepared to employ to block any Bush judicial nominee they don’t want to see on the bench.

The Democrats were basically putting Bush on notice: Even nominees that he thinks non-controversial might not be spared the Olson treatment—because controversies, if none exist, can simply be manufactured. Sen. Patrick Leahy, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, claims that Olson misled the committee at his confirmation hearing. At the hearing in question, Leahy noted that Richard Mellon Scaife had funded The American Spectator and its “Arkansas Project,” and asked Olson if he had been involved “in the so-called Arkansas Project at any time.” Olson replied that he had become aware of the project when he served on the magazine’s board of directors, but “I was not involved in the project in its origin or its management.”