Bush demands action on judicial nominees

Описание: (13 Nov 2003)

APTN
1. Exterior of US Capitol building

POOL
2. Senate floor
3. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnel pointing to sign on floor
4. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin speaking on floor

APTN
5. Two of Bush's judicial nominees, pull out to wide shot of Bush speaking
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) US President George W. Bush:
"These three women are being denied a chance to serve on the bench because of ugly politics in the United States Senate. These folks deserve an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. If they get an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor, they will be confirmed because the majority of justices believe they should serve. And yet a few senators are playing politics. And it's wrong, and it's shameful, and it's hurting the system."
7. Bush speaking

POOL
8. Senators Daschle and Kennedy at presser
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tom Daschle, (Democrat-South Dakota) US Senate Minority Leader:
"It's unfortunate the president has chosen to politicise these nominations and to raise the level of confrontation within the debate itself. I think we need to reflect on what has happened so far. The president has proposed 168 nominations that have already been confirmed, and that is a success rate that exceeds President Reagan's entire first term - in four years."
10. Presiding Senator sits in pro-tempore chair
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Larry Craig, (Republican-Idaho) Senator:
"It's raw politics, folks, nothing more, nothing less, the fine litmus test of the attitude on the part of the Democrats, and if it doesn't match the litmus test, they don't get the vote."
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Dodd, (Democrat-Connecticut) US Senator:
"Does anyone really believe for a single moment the framers of this unique document intended that the president, the executive branch, would appoint, and then it was the then the duty of this body to just rubber stamp that choice? Of course not."
13. Presiding Senator sits in pro-tempore chair

STORYLINE:

US President George W. Bush accused the US Senate of "shameful" inaction on his judicial nominees, lending his voice on Thursday to a 30-hour Senate debate over Republican efforts to pry conservative nominees loose from Democratic filibusters.

A filibuster is a technique by which a minority of senators attempts to alter or defeat a measure favoured by the majority by continuous talking.

After an all-night session, senators were bleary-eyed but firmly on message.

Republicans insisted there was no precedent for refusing to allow votes on the president's judicial choices.

Democrats said the Republican-led Senate was championing judges who do not represent American mainstream views.

The first overnight session in a decade did little to close the partisan divide over judges that has prevailed since the Clinton presidency.

Democrats blocked Republican attempts to bring up three pending nominations for votes, and Republicans stopped Democrats from raising issues on the Senate floor such as a higher minimum wage.

Bush was joined by three of his stalled nominees - judges Priscilla Owen of Texas and Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown, both from California - as he demanded that they get an up-or-down vote.

To block four nominees to federal appeals courts, Democrats have used procedures that required Republicans to come up with 60 votes to advance the president's choices.

The four are Owen, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Mississippi judge Charles Pickering and lawyer Miguel Estrada, who has since withdrawn his nomination.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...