In a USA Today op-ed, Sen. Orrin Hatch criticizes Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats for giving Pres. Obama cover as he attempts to pack the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit with his own political allies.
What explains this confirmation conversion? The president’s supporters think that filling these unnecessary D.C. Circuit seats will advance his political agenda. Doug Kendall, who heads the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center, wrote that “the president’s best hope for advancing his agenda is through executive action, and that runs through the D.C. Circuit.”
Democrats also want to use a manufactured confirmation confrontation as an excuse to eliminate judicial filibusters. Never mind that Democrats blocked four times as many confirmation votes by filibusters under President Bush than have occurred under President Obama. Never mind that Senate Democratic leaders voted more than two dozen times for judicial filibusters, including against a D.C. Circuit nominee. Even then-Sen. Obama voted for several judicial filibusters, including a Supreme Court nominee.
Read more: Utah Policy – Hatch Slams Democrats for Politicizing Judicial Confirmation Process
