House passes tax cuts, senate considers judicial nominees

The House of Representatives continued the budget process by passing a budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 2) that contains President Bush's proposed $550 billion tax cut. The bill now goes to the Senate, which will probably vote on it next week. On the Senate side, Republicans failed to break a filibuster against Bush's judicial nominee Priscilla Owen. However, another conservative judge, Jeffrey Sutton of Ohio, was confirmed to the federal circuit court.

* Senate Can't Get Cloture on Owen Appeals Nomination

On May 8, by a vote of 52 to 45, the Senate failed to invoke cloture so that it could vote on President Bush's nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sixty votes were required to invoke cloture-meaning that if the motion had succeeded, the Senate would end debate on the nomination and decide whether to put Owen on the federal bench.

Owen's nomination has now languished for more than two years without a confirmation vote from the Senate. Owen, whom extreme liberal Democrats such as Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Pat Leahy (Vt.) have called "too extreme" to serve on the bench, was rejected on a party-line Judiciary Committee vote when Democrats still enjoyed their short-lived majority in the Senate last year.

Owen, along with District of Columbia circuit nominee Miguel Estrada, has been the target of a smear campaign by left-wing extremists, zealous to establish the precedent that anyone to the political right of Karl Marx is "too extreme" to be a federal circuit judge.

After Republicans took over the Senate, they passed Owen's nomination to the full Senate on another party-line vote. However, Democrats have chosen to obstruct her nomination because they worry she might be at least partly pro-life., and these liberals depend on unelected, activist judges to implement their policies.

A "yes" vote was a vote to invoke cloture and allow senators to vote on Owen's nomination. A "no" vote was a vote to continue the filibuster against Owen.

FOR THE CLOTURE MOTION: 52

REPUBLICANS FOR (50): Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Campbell, Chafee, Chambliss, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Fitzgerald, Frist, Graham (S.C.), Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, McCain, McConnell, Nickles, Roberts, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Snowe, Specter, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Voinovich, and Warner.

DEMOCRATS FOR (2): Miller and Nelson (Neb.).

AGAINST THE CLOTURE MOTION: 45

REPUBLICANS AGAINST (0):

DEMOCRATS AGAINST (44): Akaka, Baucus, Bayh, Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Breaux, Byrd, Cantwell, Carper, Clinton, Conrad, Corzine, Daschle, Dayton, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Edwards, Feingold, Feinstein, Graham (Fla.), Harkin, Hollings, Inouye, Johnson, Kerry, Kohl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Lincoln, Mikulski, Murray, Nelson (Fla.), Pryor, Reed (R.I.), Reid (Nev.), Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Schumer, Stabenow, and Wyden.

INDEPENDENT AGAINST (1): Jeffords.

NOT VOTING (3): Kennedy, Lieberman, and Murkowski.

* Senate Votes on Another Conservative Judicial Nominee

Although Senate Republicans have remarkably failed to confirm theappeals court nominations of Priscilla Owen and Miguel Estrada, there has been some progress in putting some sane, sober judges, in the federal judiciary.

On April 29, the Senate narrowly confirmed nominee Jeffrey Sutton, by a vote of 52-41 to the U.S.Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Sutton, a law professor at Ohio State University who is known for his belief in the strictly limited enumerated powers of the federal government, had waited 719 days since President Bush nominated him in May 2001.

Liberals were positively hysterical at the prospect that Sutton's nomination would pass.

"If the U.S. Senate allows President Bush to fill the appeals courts with people like Jeffrey Sutton, Americans will not be able to count on the courts to protect their rights," charged Ralph Neas of People for the American Way.

Sutton's nomination was bitterly opposed by ultra-liberal Sen.Tom Harkin (D.-Iowa), who declared that "a vote for Jeffrey Sutton is a vote to weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act. You can't have it both ways." Harkin pointed to Sutton's successful argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Alabama v. Garrett, which limited the ability of the handicapped to sue businesses under that act.

A "yes" vote was a vote to confirm President Bush's nomination of Jeffrey Sutton to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. A "no" vote was a vote against the nomination.

FOR THE NOMINATION: 52

REPUBLICANS FOR (51): Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Campbell, Chafee, Chambliss, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Feinstein, Fitzgerald, Frist, Graham (S.C.), Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, McCain, McConnell, Murkowski, Nickles, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Snowe, Specter, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Voinovich, and Warner.