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News Release        LETTERS TO THE EDITOR GO TO:editors@interactive.wsj.com 11 Judicial Nominees Named Bush Urges Senate to Rise Above Partisan 'Bitterness' By Amy Goldstein and Helen Dewar Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, May 10, 2001; Page A02 President Bush announced 11 nominees to a half-dozen federal appeals courts yesterday, imploring the Senate to "rise above the bitterness" that has thwarted the confirmation of judges in the recent past. Senate Democrats indicated that they will attempt to block at least one nomination but said that they have no wholesale plans to hinder consideration of the White House's candidates. In his first round of choices for the federal judiciary, Bush adhered to his campaign commitment to fill court vacancies predominantly with conservative legal thinkers. But the administration sidestepped sharper ideological controversy by withholding three anticipated nominees opposed by Democrats and by selecting candidates who largely come from states without Democratic senators. At a time when Democrats wield considerable leverage because they hold half the seats in the Senate and on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the only nominee they immediately vowed to oppose is Terrence W. Boyle, a U.S. district judge from North Carolina whom Bush nominated to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction stretches from Maryland to the Carolinas. A former aide to Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) who Bush's father had tried to put on the appeals court, Boyle is opposed by Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.). Edwards wrote to the White House this week, urging Bush to consider a black judge, nominated to the appeals court by President Bill Clinton, for whom Helms had refused to allow a confirmation hearing. Edwards's opposition comes as the Judiciary Committee has been sparring over how much influence to grant individual Democratic senators who balk at nominees from their own states. Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) has said that he will consider senators' views but will not be bound by them. In a show of solidarity, the nine Democrats on the panel wrote Hatch a letter late last week, essentially saying that they will stand in the way of any nominee who lacks the support of his or her senators. Yesterday, party leaders modulated their tone. "I'm pleased that the White House has chosen to work with us on the first group of nominations," said Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat and the only Senate Democrat who attended the White House ceremony at which Bush announced his choices, said: "Had I not been encouraged, I would not have been here today." Daschle and other Democrats said, however, that they believe they have already influenced Bush's selections and that they expect to be consulted by the White House over future nominations. They left open the possibility that they may ultimately oppose more of the nominees who were announced yesterday, once their records are better known. Bush used part of the ceremony in the East Room to warn against the political antagonisms that prevented many of Clinton's nominees from winning confirmation over the past six years. "We have seen political battles played out in committee hearings -- battles that have little to do with the merits of the person sitting before the committee," the president said. "I urge senators of both parties to rise above the bitterness of the past, to provide a fair hearing and a prompt vote to every nominee." During the six-minute afternoon ceremony, all 11 nominees stood on risers next to Bush's lectern. The president extolled them but did not introduce them by name. In exhorting the Senate to act swiftly, White House officials noted that eight of yesterday's appellate court nominations would fill vacancies that have been classified as "judicial emergencies" by the Administrative Office of the U.S Courts because of the number of vacant seats on certain circuits and the volume of cases there. Bush has an uncommon opportunity to put his imprint on the federal judiciary because of a large number of vacancies. On the U.S. circuit courts of appeals -- the regional appellate courts that are the final arbiter over most federal laws -- 17 percent of the 179 seats are vacant. At the trial-level district courts, 10 percent of the 665 seats are vacant. During the campaign, Bush drew the support of many conservatives who hoped that he would give the judiciary a more conservative tilt. Yesterday, a few of the president's choices already began to draw the ire of liberal organizations. For example, ADA Watch protested the nomination of Jeffrey S. Sutton to the Ohio-based 6th Circuit, contending that he has opposed the Americans With Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws. For the Washington area, Bush nominated prominent, conservative Washington attorneys Miguel A. Estrada and John G. Roberts to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, considered the nation's second-highest court after the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to Boyle, the White House selected for the 4th Circuit Dennis W. Shedd, a district judge from South Carolina, and Roger L. Gregory, who became the first black judge on the relatively conservative circuit when Clinton gave him a one-year appointment while the Senate was in recess late last year. © 2001 The Washington Post Company