McConnell To Force Consideration Of Southwick

A source on Capitol Hill tells me that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to force consideration of Judge Leslie Southwick’s nomination to the appellate court in the next few minutes. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: It looks like the debate on this has already started. Pat Leahy is arguing that the Republicans have not asked him to put Southwick’s nomination on the agenda, but that he has done so for tomorrow anyway. He says Republicans “pocket vetoed” 61 Clinton administration appointees, and used one of them — unnamed — to accuse them of racism.
UPDATE II: McConnell introduced an amendment asking for the sense of the Senate on Southwick’s nomination. McConnell apparently wants to show that Southwick would gain a majority for his confirmation on the Senate floor.

7 thoughts on “McConnell To Force Consideration Of Southwick”

  1. Leahy needs to pick clearer language. A Pocket Veto is something only the President can do, And it only applies to legislation, not appointments. The analogy or metaphor makes no sense.
    So what the heck is Leahy talking about?

  2. Leahy and his fellow Dems rely on the vast ignorance by the US Populace on what the separateion of powers and the wording of the Constitution actually are.
    Of course, the ever vigilant MSM fact-checks his remarks and explains his errors….
    …yeah, sure

  3. In 1998, Clinton nominated a latino judge for the Fifth Circuit. He got no vote. In 1999, Clinton nominated 2 more judges for the Fifth Circuit, neither received votes over the next 2 years, and the seats sat open until Bush took office. There is precedent for the Senate sitting on a nominee and refusing to act. That said, this Mississippi seat has been open for Bush’s entire term. That’s a long time to sit on nominees.

  4. The three nominees that JWB is referring to are: Enrique Moreno of Texas, H. Alston Johnson of Louisiana, and Jorge Rangel of Texas. The Moreno and Rangel nominations were opposed not by just one of the Texas Senators, but by both. In contrast, both Mississippi Senators support Judge Southwick’s nomination. Regarding Johnson, I’m not aware that GOP Senators smeared him as being racially insensitive, as the Democratic Senators are now doing to Judge Southwick.
    Al Kamen of the Washington Post recently reported that Bush “may be hard-pressed to get the 11 he needs to match Clinton’s 65 appeals court appointments. (By the way, Clinton reached his total with the Senate in GOP hands for six of his eight years.)”

  5. I thought the alleged ‘racist’ rant was about that leftwing kook Lani Guinier (hope I remembered that correctly) that Clinton hoped to put in the Justice Department. I think Leahy was sorely disappointed that socialist anti american was denied the ability to infiltrate Justice and to be his eyes and ears in Justice.

  6. I thought the alleged ‘racist’ rant was about that leftwing kook Lani Guinier (hope I remembered that correctly) that Clinton hoped to put in the Justice Department. I think Leahy was sorely disappointed that socialist anti american was denied the ability to infiltrate Justice and to be his eyes and ears in Justice. Leahy also silent on how dems ‘pocket vetoed’ appointees to Michigan Circuit court of appeals in order to influence an affirmative action lawsuit then pending.

  7. I thought the alleged ‘racist’ rant was about that leftwing kook Lani Guinier (hope I remembered that correctly) that Clinton hoped to put in the Justice Department. I think Leahy was sorely disappointed that socialist anti american was denied the ability to infiltrate Justice and to be his eyes and ears in Justice. Leahy also silent on how dems ‘pocket vetoed’ appointees to Michigan Circuit court of appeals in order to influence an affirmative action lawsuit then pending.

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