Bush tries to make bipartisan point with court picks

From CNN White House Correspondent Major Garrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House has dropped some conservatives from a list of judicial nominees President Bush plans to submit to the Senate to avoid antagonizing Democrats, advisers and senior congressional sources told CNN.

Among the 11 nominees for appellate court seats is current Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Roger Gregory, originally named to the bench on a temporary basis by President Clinton in December after the Senate failed to act on his nomination.

The list is expected to go to the Senate on Wednesday.

Judicial nominees: Terrence Boyle to the Fourth Circuit Roger Gregory to the Fourth Circuit Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals John Roberts to the U.S. Court of Appeals Jeffrey Sutton to the Sixth Circuit Michael McConnell to the Tenth Circuit Dennis Shedd to the Fourth Circuit Barrington D. Parker to the Second Circuit Deborah L. Cook to the Sixth Circuit Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit Edith Brown Clement to the Fifth Circuit   MESSAGE BOARD • Judicial appointments • The Bush presidency

A senior administration official said the Gregory appointment is meant to show Democrats that Bush is willing to nominate "competent, qualified" people to the federal bench regardless of party affiliation or attachment to the previous administration.

Among the conservatives dropped from the list, sources said, was California GOP Rep. Christopher Cox. The administration had considered Cox a prospect for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer opposed his selection.

If confirmed, the nominees will fill some of the 100-plus vacancies on the federal bench. Bush hopes the nominations will bring an end to the partisan strife visited upon judicial nominations since the Senate defeated Ronald Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, the official said.

"He really wants to stop the intra-party warfare," the adviser said.

Gregory's nomination by Bush would be the first time in at least 50 years that a president resubmitted a nominee first proposed by a president of an opposing party. Gregory is the first African-American ever to sit on the Fourth Circuit, which covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.

Sources told CNN the list will include another Democrat -- Barrington D. Parker Jr., a nominee for a spot on the Second Circuit -- and three women.

But if the Gregory nomination makes a point, the White House hopes the nomination of Terrence Boyle of North Carolina will as well.

Former President Reagan appointed Boyle to the federal district court in 1984, and he was nominated to the appellate bench in 1991 by the administration of President Bush's father, George Bush. The then-Democratic Senate opposed Boyle's nomination.

Bush's resubmission is a symbol, one adviser said, of the protracted ideological battles visited for years upon nominees. But Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, may oppose Boyle because he would take the place of another Clinton nominee for the 4th Circuit.

Senators spar over judicial confirmation process
May 7, 2001
Senate Democrats delay confirmations in fight over judicial nominees
May 4, 2001
Clinton calls on Congress to act on judicial nominations
January 4, 2001

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