G.O.P. Tack on a Judicial Nominee (Myers and Boyle)

[papau]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/politics/01judges.html

A New G.O.P. Tack on a Judicial Nominee
By NEIL A. LEWIS

Published: March 1, 2005


ASHINGTON, Feb. 28 - <snip>Indeed, Mr. Myers has been selected by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and the new chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to be the first to go forward for the explicit reason that he may have a good chance of being confirmed and breaking the deadlock.

Then again, others, mostly Democrats, say that they expect Mr. Myers's confirmation journey to end as the last one did - in defeat for the administration and with continued animosity between the White House and Senate Democrats.

Mr. Myers, who spent much of his career as a lobbyist for the ranching and mining industries, is now a lawyer in Idaho after having served as the top lawyer in the Interior Department during Mr. Bush's first term. The issue that was debated before and will be again is whether his background and outspoken opposition to environmental advocacy groups makes him an especially poor choice or an especially good choice to sit on the Ninth Circuit.

Those who say it is a poor choice note Mr. Myers's frequent speeches over the years deploying the strong language of ranchers and other Western landowners who complain that they suffer oppression at the hands of federal environmental regulators. Mr. Myers once said, for example, that regulations were akin to King George's tyranny over the American colonies.

At his last confirmation hearing, opponents noted that the Ninth Circuit, which is based in San Francisco and covers nine western states, was regularly confronted with environmental issues. The critics frequently described the nomination as asking the fox to guard the henhouse.
<snip>

On Thursday, the committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Judge Terrence W. Boyle for an appeals court seat on the Fourth Circuit, based in Richmond, Va. Judge Boyle, who serves on the district court in North Carolina and is a protégé of former Senator Jesse Helms, did not get a hearing during the last Congress. He is opposed by some law enforcement groups who object to some of his rulings in employment cases regarding police officers.

The Alliance for Justice, a liberal group that takes positions on judicial nominees, said that Judge Boyle had been reversed in more than 150 cases in his 20 years on the bench.


see also:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61310-2005Feb28.html