WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush slammed Democratic sidelining of his judicial nominees Wednesday, saying Senate Democrats were ignoring a federal judicial crisis and using issue litmus tests on those selected to sit on a federal bench.
"These judges deserve better treatment in the United States Senate," he said. "A minority of senators apparently don't want judges who strictly interpret and apply the law. Evidently, they want activist judges who will rewrite the law from the bench."
Bush made the comment in Raleigh, N.C., where he met with three of his picks whose nominations are going nowhere on Capitol Hill.
One of them is Judge Terrence Boyle, chief judge of the federal district court of eastern North Carolina, who was nominated in 2001 to the appeals bench for the 4th Circuit. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., has kept Boyle from even being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee and argues Boyle's record of cases overturned on appeal (more than 100) makes him unsuitable.
Boyle, like Bush's other nominees, received either a qualified or well-qualified rating from the independent American Bar Association.
Edwards, a first-term senator, was picked Tuesday by presumptive Democratic Party nominee John Kerry for the vice president's slot on the ticket.
As of Wednesday, Bush had nominated 225 people to the federal courts -- 51 to circuit courts and 174 to district courts. Many have been approved, but the Senate's failure to act on some key appointments who Democrats believe are too conservative has riled Bush.
Eight of the nine vacancies represented by the nominees Bush met in North Carolina and Michigan Wednesday have been open for more than 1,000 days. Bush argues the situation is perilous given the increase in cases being heard in federal courts.
Democrats have argued that any holdup is no different from that maneuvered during the Clinton presidency by Republican Sen. Jesse Helms.
Bush and Senate Democrats struck a deal in May that opened the confirmation door for 25 appointees -- they would get their up-or-down votes in return for Bush refraining from making recess appointments to the federal bench. Such appointments, of short duration, do not require Senate approval. The process was used to appoint Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering to the federal bench despite fierce disapproval by Democrats and some civil rights advocacy groups.
An official of the Kerry-Edwards '04 campaign characterized Bush's swing Wednesday to North Carolina and Michigan as a fence-mending effort for conservative Republicans unhappy with the compromise.
"I told these three men that I'm standing with them, and I have said I am sorry that you're having to wait long. I'm sorry that you're being hung out by a handful of United States senators," Bush said he told the three North Carolina nominees.
Following his private meeting in Raleigh, Bush attended a campaign reception. He repeated the pattern in Michigan before returning to Washington.
Bush has proposed judicial reform, including provisions of advance warning of a federal judicial vacancy. Also included would be hearings and an up/down floor vote within 180 days.
On other matters Wednesday Bush predicted that he would repeat his 2000 victory in the South come November because he and Vice President Dick Cheney shared the conservative values of the region, in contrast to Kerry and Edwards.
"The people of North Carolina remember I came to this state and said we'll make sure our troops are well paid and well housed and taken care of, and we've done that," Bush said in answer to a reporter's question. "I told them we'd cut taxes, and we've done that.
"I also know that when they go to the polls to vote for president that they'll understand that the senator from Massachusetts doesn't share their values."
Bush won North Carolina 56 percent to 43 percent in 2000. He carried the entire South easily except for Florida, where he nudged a squeak-through victory amid a recount and court appeal process.
Kerry's choice of Edwards was seen as an attempt, among other things, to woo the South and possibly split the vote in November.
Edwards is a charismatic populist who was a personal-injury attorney before entering the Senate. He was Kerry's closest rival in the primary process, despite the fact he only won one actually primary.
The Bush campaign immediately highlighted his inexperience in government, something Kerry himself did earlier in the year to argue Edwards was unsuitable for the Oval Office.
Asked how Edwards with his charm stacked up against the more experienced Cheney, Bush simply replied, "Dick Cheney can be president."
On Wednesday Kerry and Edwards appeared together in Ohio, a key battleground state. Their selection for the Democratic ticket is expected to be cemented at the Democrats' convention in Boston at the end of July.
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