WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee is criticizing President Bush's renomination of 20 people, recently blocked by Democrats, for federal judgeships.
Bush said he would resubmit the names of the 20 nominees, seven of whom include appeals courts candidates, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Democrats, who used the threat of a filibuster to halt consideration of the 20, said they were too conservative. Many of the candidates ran afoul of Democrats for their stated or suspected opposition to abortion rights, which Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, supports.
"I would have preferred there would have been an interlude before they were resubmitted to provide an opportunity to improve the climate on the Judiciary Committee," Specter said.
Among nominees set to reappear before Specter's panel are Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Richman Owen, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, former associate White House counsel Brett M. Kavanaugh, William J. Haynes II, who served as Pentagon general counsel, and Alabama attorney general William H. Pryor.
