WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said he would remove a block of a vote on whether Janet Neff should be placed on the U.S. District Court bench.
Brownback blocked Neff's confirmation because the Michigan state judge went to a same-sex "commitment ceremony" for a neighbor's daughter. He proposed he would not block her nomination if Neff agreed to recuse herself from all same-sex union cases.
But Brownback told The New York Times on Monday he will no longer press for that agreement.
The paper said legal scholars point out Brownback's request for recusal was "possibly unprecedented" in that a senator was apparently asking a judge to agree to behavior in court in exchange for a vote.
Brownback called same-sex unions a "big hot-button issue." He said Neff didn't make it clear that her attending the ceremony did not mean she could make an unbiased ruling in such cases.
Brownback's block of the Neff nomination actually stopped a group of 12 nominations to the federal bench. Those nominees were otherwise approved by members of both political parties. Brownback said he wants Neff's nomination in January recorded by personal vote rather than by a voice vote.
