Try, Try Again

Last year, President Bush nominated William G. Myers III to the Federal Appeals Court and Myers was subsequently blocked in the Senate. So what does Bush do? He nominates the guy again this year, and accuses the Dems of being obstructionist if they don't give him the ol' rubber stamp. The Boston Globe has an editorial about it today that's good, so I'll copy it below in its entirety. It says pretty much everything I want to say about this, so it saves me the time:

A YEAR ago, the Democratic minority in the Senate blocked the nomination of William G. Myers III to the federal appeals court in San Francisco, finding that the former lobbyist for the mining and grazing industries lacked the temperament and experience for a lifetime judicial appointment. President Bush has renominated Myers. He is no more qualified now than he was in 2004, and he should be rejected again.

During the first Bush term, the Senate confirmed more than 200 judicial nominees, more than were confirmed during Ronald Reagan's first term or the previous President Bush's single term. There are fewer vacancies in the federal judiciary than there have been in 14 years. It is simply not true, as the administration has charged, that Senate Democrats are using obstructionist tactics to weaken the federal bench. Democrats in the first Bush term filibustered against fewer than a dozen nominees.

Myers has never been a judge at any level, never been a law professor, never even participated in a jury trial. As the top lawyer in Bush's Interior Department, Myers regularly did favors for his former paymasters in the mining industry. In one case, Myers reversed a Clinton administration ruling that a proposed gold mine would pollute the environment and intrude on a sacred tribal site. He did so without consulting with tribal officials, although they had asked for a meeting with him.

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regularly hears cases that touch on critical land-use issues such as the Clinton administration's roadless rule protecting the national forests and leases for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. Myers's views on such matters can be summed up in the opinion he once expressed that federal management of public lands is like ''the tyrannical actions of King George in levying taxes" on the American colonies without their representation. In his opinion, both the Endangered Species Act and the wetland provisions of the Clean Water Act are examples of ''regulatory excesses."

The standing committee on the federal judiciary of the American Bar Association reviewed Myers, and not a single member rated him ''well qualified." The National Congress of American Indians, which has never before opposed a judicial nominee, wants to see Myers rejected, as do more than 180 labor, environmental, civil rights, and women's organizations. Bush should never have sent his name back to the Senate, where it appears that Myers's only hope is if the Republican leadership cynically changes the body's filibuster rules to win approval for this manifestly unqualified nominee. A lifetime job on an important appeals court is no position for an ideologue who won't even listen to the other side.

It is disingenuous for the GOP to be accusing the Democrats of obstructionism in this case, especially given the fact that Bush has essentially had his way with his nominees. For more on the false obstructionist charges, here's a bit by Media Matters taking on false charges by Michael Reagan.

George Will (a conservative writer) comes out against altering the filibuster rules here.

Armando has a diary at kos about other nominees that are up for a second try.

Additionally, there are claims that the use of the filibuster is unprecedented. Those are also tackled by MM here. The Republicans were even more active with judicial blocks during the Clinton years, though they often killed nominees in committee or by pocket filibuster, as they held the majority. The filibuster is an important tool for a minority in the Congress, and since many of their other options have been removed by Republican leadership rule changes, it is their (and our) last line of defense.