Bush blasts Senate review of federal judges as politicized, discouraging top candidates

By: DEB RIECHMANN - Associated Press | Thursday, November 15, 2007 7:32 PM PST ∞

WASHINGTON -- In a blistering rebuke, President Bush said Thursday that the Senate's procedure for approving federal judges has become too political and discourages qualified nominees from being considered.

"The Senate is no longer asking the right question, whether a nominee is someone who will uphold our Constitution and laws," Bush said in excerpts of a speech he was to deliver Thursday night to The Federalist Society, a conservative group that emphasizes legal matters.

"Instead, nominees are asked to guarantee specific outcomes of cases that might come before the court. If they refuse -- as they should -- they often find their nomination ends up in limbo instead of on the Senate floor."

Bush said the confirmation process unfairly tarnishes the reputations of good candidates.

"Lawyers approached about being nominated will politely decline because of the ugliness, uncertainty and delay that now characterize the confirmation process," the president said.

Also speaking at The Federalist Society meeting, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined in the criticism of the confirmation process. His nomination was nearly derailed by a Democratic-controlled Senate in 1991.

"We're doing great damage. I fear how much damage we will do to our judiciary over time," Thomas said in response to a question in a crowded hotel ballroom where he talked about and signed his new book.

Thomas, accused of sexual harassment by former employee Anita Hill, has repeatedly denied her allegations. He said at the time that the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted a "high-tech lynching" by trying to bring him down.

He said Justice Byron White told him that just 10 days elapsed between White's nomination by President Kennedy and his swearing-in in 1962. "What are we doing that's improved the system we had in place for 200 years, and I dare say nothing," Thomas said to sustained applause.

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, said Bush's rhetoric was strong considering there still was hope for getting some nominees confirmed during the final year of Bush's presidency.

"A war of words is not productive," Specter said in a telephone interview.

While he said he understands Bush's frustration, the White House must shoulder some of the blame, Specter said, noting that Bush ignored five recommendations to fill a vacancy on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals submitted to him by Virginia Sens. Jim Webb, a Democrat, and John Warner, a Republican.

"It's pretty fundamental that you listen to Republican senators," Specter said.

Bush's swipe at the Democratic-run Senate comes amid mounting White House frustration over the president's stalled nominations to the federal courts. It also is part of a clear pattern by Bush to publicly condemn Congress for not getting its work done, a strategy the White House believes gives it the upper hand.

The White House said that historically, the Senate has confirmed an average of 17 circuit court judges in the final two years of the past three administrations. To date, only five circuit court judges have been confirmed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Democrats, argues that the number of nominees pending is low. At the end of the Clinton administration, there were 26 circuit court vacancies because the Republicans didn't confirm them in hopes that a Republican would take over the Oval Office.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said there are 47 vacancies on both the district and circuit courts. Bush has not nominated anyone for 26 of these 47 spots, according to the committee.

During Leahy's 27 months as chairman, the committee has confirmed 135 nominees to federal judgeships in district and circuit courts. In contrast, Leahy's staff says, during four years under Specter and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the committee confirmed 154 nominees to those courts.

-- Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.