Earlier this month the Senate voted to confirm 41 year old Jennifer Elrod to a lifetime seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, considered by many to be the most conservative federal appealate court in the United States. Now the Senate has approved another Bush nominee to that court, the controversial Leslie Southwick of Mississippi. The vote on Southwick was 59-38, with the Democrats voting in favor of him being an odd mix. Feinstein, Byrd, Lincoln, Pryor and Nelson of Nebraska were all fairly predictable votes in his favor. But Akaka, Conrad and Dorgan? That's kind of odd. Interestingly, Mary Landrieu voted against the nomination, All Republicans voted in favor of Southwick (yes, including "moderates" like Specter, Snowe, Collins and Gordon Smith).
Posted by armand at October 24, 2007 12:51 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the CourtsOkay, my dislike of Tom Carper and Ken Salazar continues to grow. Turns out 3 senators voted yes on cloture before voting against the nomination (those 2, plus Inouye). Talk about useless, gutless wonders. Well, usel"ful" for Southwick fans. Without their votes he wouldn't have had 60 votes for cloture.
Posted by: Armand at October 25, 2007 12:43 PM | PERMALINKcan't bitch about that, and then bitch next week about the minority party fighting cloture on something democratic that has a clear, sub-60 majority. i'm not saying filibustering or resisting cloture doesn't have its place, but we'll be crying for up or down votes when there's a dem pres and the GOP minority is refusing to vote for cloture.
Posted by: moon at October 25, 2007 01:21 PM | PERMALINKUmmm, what I'm bitching about is essentially voting in favor of people they purport to oppose. If they really oppose them, why let a vote be held on the nomination?
Posted by: Armand at October 25, 2007 03:37 PM | PERMALINKWell, Feinstein says that because they hope to have a D president making appointments soon, they didn't want to make too big a fuss because "what goes around come around." [head slap]
Posted by: binky at October 26, 2007 10:35 AM | PERMALINK