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President's Visit Emphasizes Justice For All Americans With His Judicial Nominees
By Kevin Fobbs
July 7, 2004

In the best of all worlds the president's visit to the Detroit area this week would be one of celebration on the domestic front for his moving the nation's economy upward, both in terms of the stock market and job creation. The president has been successful in getting new badly needed Medicare card benefits for seniors and creating housing programs that benefit tens of thousands of low-income and minority new home buyers. On the international front, the North Korean government is in negotiations on nuclear arms reduction and a new interim government is in place in Iraq.

Instead the president has to come to Michigan to meet personally with his Michigan nominees to the U.S. 6th Circuit of Appeals: Michigan Appeals Court Judge Richard Griffin; U.S. District Court Judge, Western District of Michigan, David McKeague; Judge Susan Bieke Neilson, Circuit Court, Wayne County, Michigan; and Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals covers Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

The president's visit to Michigan has been made necessary because U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have "blue slipped" (the arcane Senate rule that allows senators to blackball nominees from their own state) President Bush's four nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals from Michigan.

The president fully understands that the more than 30.5 million Americans who live in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee should not be denied their day in court because of partisan political high jinks. Some may say that the stalemate may be over because Judge Henry Saad's nomination has been voted out of the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee and U.S. District Judge David McKeague and Michigan Appeals Court Judge Richard Griffin have already had hearings on their nomination.

But the stalemate is not over.

The liberals will continue to fight the constitutional process. Liberals say the partisan fight over vacancies began when Detroit Federal Appeals Court Judge Damon Keith became a senior judge in 1995 and former President Clinton nominated Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Helene White in 1996 to fill that vacancy. They claim that current U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, while he was a U.S. Senator, blocked White's candidacy out of political spite. Senators Levin and Stabenow would have the 30.5 million residents of the four states comprising the Court of Appeals district believe that they are only engaging in partisan payback because Republicans launched the first partisan salvo when Clinton nominees were not given a vote as opposed to their obvious ideological differences with President Bush's nominees.

Of course that is revisionist history. In fact former President Bush nominated several Michigan judicial candidates for the federal bench, including John Smietanka, former U.S. Attorney for Western Michigan. They were blue slipped by then Senators Riegle and Levin. So who was paying back whom?

To add insult to injury, in September of 2000 it was Michigan's very own U.S. Senator Levin who stated: "It is not whether you let the president have his nominees confirmed. You will not even let them be considered by the Senate for an up-or-down vote. That is the problem today." I think all readers would agree with Levin's earlier statement and want him to apply the same standard and request himself. That is exactly the problem today because Levin and Stabenow will not even let the president's nominees be considered by the Senate for an up-or-down vote.

This is why the president is in the Detroit area this week. He wants to call attention to a shameful condition. He will focus on how our federal judicial system and its nominating process are under serious attack by liberals as well as members and leaders of special interest groups. He may call attention to how these special interests groups are no longer content with abiding by the Constitution in providing for an up or down vote in the Senate.

Liberals also say that the president should compromise over this political standoff. Article II of the Constitution provides "The president shall nominate, and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint...Judges of the Supreme Court and all other Officers of the United States..." I think 200 years of the Constitution working to allow the president to nominate judicial candidates to the federal bench is a pretty good record of achievement. Now is not the time to experiment with the Constitution in allowing for an U.S. Senate "compromise clause" because liberals don't agree with the president's selections.

Senator Levin joins his fellow liberal Democrat New York twin, Senator Charles Schumer. In June of 2000 Senator Schumer initiated hearings under the auspices of declaring that the Senate should acknowledge that ideology plays an important role in the judicial confirmation process and called on the Senate to openly consider a nominee's ideology as a legitimate part of the confirmation process as cited in the April 14th 2002 "National Review Online."

You see Senator Schumer's desire is to rewrite the federal judiciary nominating process by forming a Citizen Judicial Nominating Commission in each state and circuit that would then select one nominee for each judicial vacancy. In Senator Schumer's perfect liberal world, the president and Senate leader of the opposite party would select equal numbers of members. The president would then be forced to nominate the individual selected by the commission and the Senate would be required to confirm that individual -- at least absent "evidence" that the candidate is "unfit for judicial service." Unfortunately, Senator

Schumer has run into a brick wall called Article II of the Constitution because it does not allow for that.

Is the fight over? As I said earlier, no way. The judicial obstructionists will again attempt to filibuster. Just last year, presidential nominee Miguel Estrada, an immigrant from Honduras, who barely spoke English when he arrived in America climbed his way up the ladder of success living the American Dream until he met the liberal filibuster blockade. Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court judge of ten years, who was endorsed in her latest election to the court (2000) by every major newspaper in Texas also met the same fate.

Why do liberal senators filibuster or threaten to filibuster the president's nominees? Judicial obstructionists have a standard: if you are a Christian, conservative woman, conservative Hispanic or conservative African-American, or if you are pro-life, you can't be a federal judge in this country. Bottomline: 30.5 million residents in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky lose and special interests win.

While the president is in Michigan its citizens should pay attention and put aside any partisan politics and think for a moment. The 6th Circuit Appeals Court has called a judicial emergency because of the length of its vacancies and the workload. With its 4,964 new cases filed in the past year and its 4,300 plus cases pending, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky need a court giving justice at its 16 member full complement and not at the 12 that it is currently constrained to. Justice cannot be deferred any longer. It's time for the 30,5 million residents who reside in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals states to stand up and demand that this partisan bickering stop. Right here. Right now.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.