In terms of events that do not bode well, Judge David Hamilton, who is controversional for reasons I find hard to fathom (or who should seem downright dull to anyway to the left of Sen. Jim DeMint) was finally confirmed today. He'll join the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and will be the first Obama appointee on that bench. For those keeping score the Senate, which has only 40 Republicans in it, has now confirmed a mere 4 appealate court judges, and that's if one counts Justice Sotomayor in that number. And yes, we are now in late November (Judge Hamilton was nominated over 8 months ago). Why do I think this doesn't bode well? As I note, Hamilton is about as far from a leftist or a flame-thrower as one can imagine. And yet the vote was 59-39, with all Republicans except for Hamilton's home state supporter Dick Lugar voting against the nomination (Senators Baucus and Byrd didn't vote). Yes, even Senators Snowe and Collins voted no. If the Republican caucus continues to hold together like this it looks like vacancies on the federal courts might be open for a long, long time, no matter how hugely outnumbered Republican senators are.
Posted by armand at November 19, 2009 05:26 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the Courts