McConnell Questions ‘Appropriateness’ Of Confirming New Obama Judicial Nominees

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

SAHIL KAPUR JUNE 4, 2013, 3:23 PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday signaled he may not let any of President Obama’s nominees to the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals come to a vote.

At his weekly press conference, McConnell didn’t commit to using a filibuster to block up-or-down votes on Obama’s three new picks to the second highest federal court, but questioned “the appropriateness of confirming these three judges.”

He dodged a question about whether he believes the nominees should only be filibustered under “extraordinary circumstances” — which is theoretically the standard senators have agreed to for when it’s appropriate for the minority to block nominees.

“I think the issue, if there is one, with regard to the D.C. Circuit, is whether this circuit court — which is apparently less busy than all but one circuit court in the nation — needs to have a full complement of judges,” he said. (Democrats have retorted that the court’s caseload may not be high but that it deals with extraordinarily complicated cases.)

-snip-

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/06/mcconnell-obama-nominees-dc-circuit.php?ref=fpb

[Ian David]

1. Fine. Then remove three judges and replace them with these, Mitch. n/t

[catbyte]

2. Asshole, pardon my French

[davidpdx]

20. You can say that again...........

[truebrit71]

3. Pay attention Senator Reid..THIS is your cue to go nuclear on them...

...ENOUGH with the obstructionist bullshit...you rolled over and got your tummy tickled every time Lt AWOL sent his picks to the Senate, it's time to get the same level of reciprocation from the treasonous repukes..or else their favourite toy, the 60-vote filibuster needs to be taken away from them..

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Reid is the problem with no solution. nt

[davidpdx]

19. The likelihood of it happening now is slim to none

with the passing of Senator Lautenberg. The Ds only have 54. Subtract all the Blue Dogs and it will be way under 50.

[msongs]

4. harry reid is his secret weapon..well maybe not so secret nt

[otohara]

5. Why Do Dem Senators Die

and these assholes seem to live on forever and ever.

[AndyA]

6. ...Waiting on stern announcement from Harry Reid about changing voting rules in Senate...again...

...1...2...3...

Reid should have figured out by now that his "gentleman's agreement" with McConnell is about as worthless as a used, broken condom.

You can't have a real gentleman's agreement unless both parties are gentlemen. McConnell most definitely is not, and Reid...well...Reid doesn't seem to have a spine, so I'm not sure what he is.

[cascadiance]

11. Yep, Reid should say he's going to stop the Republican "reduced size court packing" filibustering...

that is the result of their obstruction by changing the filibuster rules... Use their own *PROJECTION* language back against them, and call them on it!

[Vietnameravet]

14. Amen! It's the marching bulldogs against the playful tabbies!

[Tx4obama]

7. The D.C. Circuit is NOT less busy. They have less cases but those cases take MORE TIME

because they are more complicated therefore more time consuming.

The damn Republicans spin everything - I'm so sick of it !!!

----

What Makes the D.C. Circuit Different?

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: May 31, 2013

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, is pushing a bill misleadingly called the Court Efficiency Act, which would eliminate three unfilled seats on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Next week, President Obama is expected to nominate three highly qualified lawyers for those seats, to bring the court to its full complement of 11 active judges. The Senate should confirm them quickly.

Senator Grassley insists that the District of Columbia court “is the least busy circuit in the country.” But that is simply not true, if measured by the number of pending appeals divided by the number of active judges. By that count, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, encompassing seven states in the Midwest, including Iowa, has the lowest workload of any circuit. That was apparently of no concern to the senator when he recently helped speed through the confirmation of Jane Kelly to the court.

Arguing about the caseload, however, misses the point. As Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. explained in a 2005 lecture — “What Makes the D.C. Circuit Different?” — the court has a “special responsibility to review legal challenges to the conduct of the national government.” Because of that role, about two-thirds of the cases before the D.C. Circuit involve the federal government in some civil capacity, a far greater percentage than are before other appeals courts in the system.

-snip-

Full OP-ed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/opinion/what-makes-the-dc-circuit-different.html

[Vietnameravet]

15. Is there no end to their fucking hate and insanity???

[Roland99]

8. I find it hard to be appropriate when talking about that sonofamitch

[The Wizard]

9. Miss McConnell

is the kast person to question what is appropriate. He's a jerkoff.

[blackspade]

10. Well, apparently the Senate doesn't seem that busy either.

Perhaps we should leave his position unfilled?

What a fucking hypocrite.

[Vietnameravet]

12. Now they accuse Obama of court "packing" which makes me ask..

Where and how is all this going to end?

[AAO]

13. It should end in a new shiny white jacket with extra long sleeves and straps.

[AlbertCat]

16. Of course he questions it.

It's just his fucking job!

When are they gonna DO anything?

[lastlib]

18. FUCK YOU, McCONNELL!

Just--FUCK YOU!!

And the horse you rode in on!

. . . . .

[Jennicut]

21. Shouldn't all circuit courts have all the judges determined by law that they need?

If there is such an issue with shortages on other circuits, shouldn't the vacancies all be filled? I mean, they cause the problem then complain about it.

[ananda]

22. Anthropologists consider "appropriateness" of considering McConnell a homo sapiens.

..

[0rganism]

23. this is the GOP version of "packing the court"

Instead of expanding the number of judges, they wait for one of theirs to appoint a bunch and then declare the rest of the seats don't need to be filled when they become vacant.

Less justice for all!