Senate Democrats threaten to hold up judge votes

Senate Democrats threaten to hold up judge votes until Bush agrees to stop recess appointments

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats on Friday threatened to stop all of President Bush's judicial nominees until the White House agrees not to appoint any more judges while Congress is out of town.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Democrats had decided to block all judicial nominees on the Senate floor until "the White House gives us the assurance that they will no longer abuse the process."

Democrats have been upset that Bush gave temporary federal appellate judgeships to Mississippi judge Charles Pickering and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor while the Senate was out of town. Democratic senators had been blocking the two from getting confirmation votes for lifetime judgeships.

"The President's use of recess appointments to circumvent the advise and consent process puts a finger in the eye of the Constitution," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Republicans immediately retorted that Bush wouldn't have had to use recess appointments if Democrats hadn't been blocking his nominees. They also argued that the Constitution gives the president clear authority to put his nominees on the bench temporarily when Congress is not in session.

"To suggest that President Bush has somehow gone outside the power conferred upon him under the U.S. Constitution is not true," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

A call to the White House was not immediately returned.

Democrats also say the White House is refusing to appoint Democratic nominees to fill their vacancies on federal boards and commissions. Many of the boards and commissions require both Democrats and Republicans to serve, but the Democrats are being held up by the White House, Daschle said.

"A divisive form of political gamesmanship has been allowed to extend to the nomination process itself," Daschle said. "Talented candidates are being prevented from serving their nation. And the views and communities they represent are not being heard. And the American people are losing out as a result."

Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over judicial nominations since Bush took office.

The Senate has approved 173 of Bush's judicial nominations, but Democrats have used the threat of filibusters to block Bush's appeals court nominations of Pickering, Pryor, Judge Priscilla Owen, Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada and judges Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown. Estrada withdrew his nomination in September.