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Bush wants to end 'politics as usual' on judges

From Kelly Wallace
CNN Washington Bureau

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- When President Bush announces his first nominations to the federal bench later Wednesday, he will call for an end to "politics as usual" when it comes to the U.S. Senate's handling of judicial nominees, a White House spokesman said.

"The era of each party going after each other's judges does not serve the country well," said Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary.

Bush will be joined by the 11 nominees at an East Room ceremony. Seven are already sitting judges, five serve on the federal bench, two serve on state supreme courts, four have argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and four have clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices, according to Fleischer.

Fleischer would not reveal any names, but CNN has confirmed the list will include Roger Gregory, re-nominated to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia.

President Clinton used his recess appointment power last year to place Gregory on the court for one year after Republicans failed to act on his nomination. He is the first black person to serve on the 4th Circuit.

The White House called the re-nomination of Gregory "unprecedented," saying it was the first time in at least 50 years that a president has resubmitted a nominee first proposed by a president of the opposing party.

Bush also is re-nominating Terrance Boyle of North Carolina, who was nominated to a circuit court in 1991 by Bush's father but was opposed by a Democratic Senate.

Fleischer said there are 31 vacancies in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and that 15 have been declared "judicial emergencies" by the administrator of the circuit. The president's 11 nominees would take care of 50 percent of the current judicial emergencies, Fleischer said.

Fleischer dismissed any notion that politics played a role in the president's nominations, saying Bush chose "pre-eminent jurists" who will "not legislate from the bench."

The president's decisions, Fleischer said, were "driven by the need to fill vacancies on the judiciary."

A senior administration official said the president is likely to send more judicial nominations to Capitol Hill in "weeks, as opposed to months."

Fleischer would not discuss the cases of California Republican Chris Cox and other conservatives who were pulled from the first batch of nominees, according to White House advisers and senior congressional sources, to avoid a clash with Senate Democrats.

Fleischer said the president wants to work in a "collegial fashion" with both parties, and that means consulting with senators from a nominee's state.

A senior administration official told CNN that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, asked for "more time" to assess the potential nomination of Cox, a staunch conservative, for a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, has already said she opposes the nomination.

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