No Fight on Bush Judges

Behind all the big name legislation, like renewing the Patriot Act and approving Supreme Court nominees, there are a lot of smaller things that don’t usually show up on the radar but also have a lasting affect.

Knowing how concerned liberals are with the conservative direction of our courts, I would like to just take a moment to point out how Democrats are voting on the issue.

On March 6th, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved two new U.S. District court judges in Georgia and West Virginia nominated by President Bush.

The first was Timothy C. Batten Sr. of Georgia who was approved 88-0 with the missing 12 votes being no votes.

The other was Thomas E. Johnston of West Virginia who was approved 89-0 with the missing 11 votes being no votes.

These two gentlemen are no lightweights when it comes to Republican ideas with Johnston being the former head of the Ohio County Republican Party. What I want to know is what’s up with the Democrats not having one nay among them. The liberal base must feel great that their elected leaders are giving President Bush such an easy time in making our courts more conservative.

For Democrats this seems to be a trend when it comes to President Bush court appointees. On March 16th the Senate voted 96-0 with the missing 4 votes being no votes for Jack Zouhary, who will be the new District Court Judge for the Northern District of Ohio. Zouhary is again no moderate and a former appointee of Ohio Governor Bob Taft.

For our Senators, Schumer gave a thumbs up on all three and Hillary gave a thumbs up on Zouhary, while being absent on the other two.