Thursday May 3 6:28 PM ET
Democrats Walk Out on Sen. Hatch

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats walked out of a Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) meeting Thursday to protest a Republican move to limit their ability to veto President Bush (news - web sites)'s judicial nominations.

The walkout, at a meeting intended to advance the nominations of top Justice Department (news - web sites) officials, infuriated the committee chairman, GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch (news - bio - voting record) of Utah. He said he would not allow a single senator arbitrarily to kill judicial nominations.

``Do you want me to be your chairman or do you want me to be your puppet?'' Hatch told Democrats.

During the Clinton administration, Democrats contend, Hatch on occasion allowed a single Republican to veto a home-state nominee to the federal bench.

``I would not want to think that Senate procedure would change because the presidency changes,'' said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news - bio - voting record) of Vermont, the committee's top Democrat.

The bickering comes as the parties engage in an ideological battle over the direction of the federal judiciary.

The White House on Wednesday sent the names of 15 prospective appeals court nominees to Hatch and Leahy with the intention of announcing them next week upon completion of final FBI (news - web sites) and Justice Department reviews and consultations with lawmakers.

``This will be a group that everybody will see as diverse in gender, diverse in ethnicity. ... It includes several sitting judges and includes judges rated well-qualified by the American Bar Association,'' said the White House counsel, Al Gonzales.

Gonzales said senators were notified of candidates in their home states shortly before or after the FBI reviews began.

``I told the senators in their presence, `I'm sorry if you don't feel properly consulted,''' Gonzalez said. ``But we're doing everything we feel we can do to consult.''

He said Bush retains the authority to nominate judges he deems fit. ``The word 'consult' does not appear in the Constitution,'' Gonzales said. ``It says advice and consent.''

Given the fragile 50-50 split in the Senate and the possibility that Democrats could take control before the midterm elections, the White House wants to get as many judges confirmed quickly as possible. Currently, there are 98 vacancies on the federal bench, including about 30 on the 13 circuit courts of appeal, one level below the Supreme Court.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., can bring up nominees in the event of a 9-9 split on the Judiciary Committee. But Republicans would need 10 Democratic votes to bring a nominee to a vote and Democrats say they will not help unless they get a change in the veto policy.

``We just won't allow the vote,'' said Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D.

The confirmation votes on Theodore Olson to be solicitor general and Larry Thompson to be deputy attorney general were put off last week because of the dispute.

During the three-hour hearing Thursday, Democrats showed interest in only the ``blue slips'' issue - the blue forms used by senators to give their decisions on nominees from their home states.

Most of the committee's Democrats showed up for the hearing but dropped out as the bickering continued. Hatch needed 10 senators for the confirmation votes. At one point when eight Republicans and three Democrats were in the room, he tried to force the vote over Leahy's objection. ``Unless you walk out on me, we're going to have the vote right now,'' Hatch told Leahy.

Leahy and the last two Democrats then left, angering Republicans.

``It's like saying, `Unless I get my way, we're not going to let this administration function properly,''' said Sen. Jon Kyl (news - bio - voting record), R-Ariz.

Democrats say that during the Clinton administration, Hatch allowed one negative blue slip form a home-state senator to block judicial nominations. Democrats want that same ability to block Bush's nominees.

Hatch denies that was his practice with Clinton's nominees, saying he gives negative blue slips ``great weight'' but does not allow them to become absolute vetoes unless senators are being ignored by the White House.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001