Senate Democrats delay confirmations in fight over judicial nominees

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seeking a larger say in President George W. Bush's judicial nominations, staged a walkout Thursday that delayed approval of two key Bush appointments to the Justice Department.

The walkout scuttled committee votes on the nominations of Theodore Olson to be solicitor general and Larry Thompson for deputy attorney general.

Committee Democrats want the panel's GOP chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, to adopt a rule which would require both senators from a state to approve nominations for judges in that state. Known as it "blue-slip" policy, it could theoretically give Democrats the power to block Bush judicial nominees in 31 states.

Democrats say Hatch used such a policy during the Clinton administration, and they want it to continue.

"If it was good enough for the Democratic president, it's good enough for a Republican president, and if you want any proof of bipartisanship, it's that," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

But Hatch, who lashed out at Democrats for the walkout, says he has never given any single senator veto power over whether a nominee would be granted a hearing. He also insisted that he never enforced the "blue-slip" policy, which was put in place because the Clinton administration did not consult Republicans on judicial nominations.

Hatch said he is now simply returning to rules used by Democratic chairman in the past and that every senator, regardless of party, will be consulted by the White House before a judge is nominated in a state.

A visibly angry Hatch said the Democrats' action "borders on a serious breach of our constitutional duties."

"The attorney general's top team, who we tried to move, is being held hostage for political maneuvering to seek an unprecedented absolute veto on the president's judicial selection," said Hatch.

With a Republican now in the White House, Democrats say Hatch is changing the policy to make it easier for Bush to get conservative judges through the Senate.

"They intend to try to abrogate the Senate's role in choosing judges so that they can create the most ideological bench that we have seen in America," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York.

But Republicans say Democrats are simply trying to keep judges opposed to abortion rights off of the bench, and they call that unfair because, during the Clinton years, many anti-abortion Republicans voted for judicial nominees who supported legal abortion.

GOP sources say Bush may send as many as 40 nominations to the Senate next week. There are 98 federal judicial vacancies, 30 of which are on circuit courts of appeal.

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