CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) — With his presidency in its final months, George W. Bush called Monday on the "lame duck" US Senate to approve his nominations for federal court judges.
There are currently 34 judicial vacancies in federal circuit and district courts, a Bush official said, but Democrats in the US Senate have rejected several Bush nominees for being too conservative.
Bush, speaking to the Ashbrook Center, a conservative policy group, said the confirmation process for judges "has been subject to serious abuse".
In November, he said, "the Senate will hold a 'lame duck' session to finish their legislative business for the year."
"The long list of qualified judicial nominees still waiting for Senate action" should be at the top of its agenda, he added.
"If Democrats truly seek a more productive and cooperative relationship in Washington, then they have a perfect opportunity to prove it -- by giving these nominees the up-or-down vote they deserve."
Bush said American citizens "expect the nomination process to be as free of partisanship as possible, and for senators to rise above tricks and gimmicks designed to thwart nominees."
Bush told the sympathetic crowd he had fulfilled a promise to nominate judges "who would faithfully interpret the Constitution -- not use the courts to invent laws or dictate social policy."
He made special mention of his two Supreme Court nominees -- Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative jurist Samuel Alito.
Democrats counter that there were more than twice the number of judicial vacancies at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2000 when a Republican-majority senate refused to approve Democratic judicial nominees.
One-third of US Senate seats are in play in the November 4 election. Bush himself ends his maximum two terms on January 20 when a new president -- either Barack Obama or John McCain, depending on the outcome of the vote -- moves into the White House.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
