GOP senators relish new battle over court nominees

Staff and wire reports
citydesk@starbulletin.com

WASHINGTON » Republicans are itching for a good election-year fight. Now they are about to get one: a reprise of last year's Senate showdown over judges.

It has been a year since a bipartisan group of 14 senators, the Gang of 14, reached a compromise that smoothed the way for confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees, including two Supreme Court justices. Conservatives, eager to stir some enthusiasm among their base in an otherwise gloomy election year, have spent months prodding Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to take up candidates left out of that deal.

Frist, of Tennessee, is doing just that. Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, a White House aide whose nomination to a federal appeals court has been stalled for three years. Frist has promised a vote on Kavanaugh this month. Conservatives are also pushing for a vote on an even more contentious nominee, Judge Terrence Boyle, a longtime U.S. district judge in North Carolina.

With Democrats promising to question Kavanaugh extensively and threatening to block Boyle by filibuster, Republicans say they could not be happier.

"A good fight on judges does nothing but energize our base," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Another conservative Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, said, "I think this is excellent timing. From a political standpoint, when we talk about judges, we win."

Conservative commentators and advocates have spent months arguing that very point.

Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, which advocates for the confirmation of Bush's judicial nominees, said his group and other conservative organizations had been pushing Frist to reopen the issue since Justice Samuel Alito was confirmed to the Supreme Court in January.

With Republicans divided over issues like immigration and federal spending, Rushton said a revival of the long-running clash over judges could provide a unifying theme. It could swing independent votes, he said, in the close-fought re-election campaigns of Republicans like Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and in races like the one in Michigan, where Republicans are trying to unseat a Democratic incumbent, Debbie Stabenow.

Legislators aid Foodbank

State House members proved they are capable of heavyweight action.

Last week, according to a news release, they loaded up a truck with 8,594 pounds of food and gave $5,652 to Hawaii Foodbank President Dick Grimm.

The House collected more than double the goal and triple the food originally sought.

"We started off with big ideas, and then everything snowballed. All the legislators wanted to get involved, and soon there was a huge competition between all the representatives," said Rep. Kameo Tanaka (D, West Maui), one of two organizers.

» Legislature Directory
» Legislature Bills & Hawaii Revised Statutes