Confirmation Process

WASHINGTON -- As the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded two weeks of often contentious hearings yesterday on Judge Clarence Thomas' fitness to serve on the Supreme Court, the panel's chairman promised to explore whether the confirmation process itself should be overhauled.The committee chairman, Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., noted the widespread dissatisfaction and frustration with the hearings, especially among some of his fellow Democrats on the panel and some of those groups opposing Judge Thomas.

The Baltimore County Council will get its first crack at County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's top-level staff picks on Tuesday. Kamenetz, a Democrat, has submitted a list of nominees largely made up of Baltimore County government veterans, some of whom have shifted positions or returned from work in the private sector. The 17 nominees include Fred Homan, whom Kamenetz wants to keep as county administrative officer, and retired Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, who would head the new Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability.

"I am 83 years old. I cannot remain on this Court forever, and when I do step down, the confirmation process for my successor may well focus on the [abortion] issue before us today."-- Justice Harry Blackmun With those words the author of Roe vs. Wade turned to the future and pointed to two paths leading to ideological worlds far apart. Justice Blackmun's separate opinion last week in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey intimated that the reign of Roe may depend more on constitutional politics than on constitutional law. It was as if he were preparing to pass the torch, not to black-robed justices but rather to gray-suited senators.

Two Baltimore-area nominees to the federal bench, Ellen Lipton Hollander and James K. Bredar, moved a step closer to confirmation Thursday when the Judiciary committee voted to send their names to the full Senate. The Marylanders won approval on voice votes, without opposition, but could still face a considerable wait to begin their lifetime appointments. At least 23 other judicial nominees are already in line for Senate debate and final action, as Republicans continue to slow the confirmation process.

Senators rightly take very seriously their powers of advice and consent over treaties and major appointments, and nowhere is that power more zealously guarded than in the president's nominees for the nation's highest court. So it's reasonable that Senate Republicans would wish to be assured of ample time to question federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's choice to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, about her views on the law and the role of judges in interpreting it. What's not reasonable, however, is to use the confirmation process as an excuse for creating endless delays aimed solely at preventing Judge Sotomayor from taking her seat on the court before its next session begins in October, as the president indicated he wants.

Several City Council members are vowing that acting Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm will not slip through the confirmation process as easily as his predecessor did. Though council members say they have enormous respect for Hamm -- a familiar face in city law enforcement -- they fault themselves for not diligently looking into former Commissioner Kevin P. Clark's history before approving his appointment. "We will expect more information from the administration on his background," said Council President Sheila Dixon, who added that she will issue written guidelines about background checks.

Groups in favor and groups opposed to Clarence Thomas predict a changed, cleaner confirmation process next time, but only in ways that would favor their respective and widely divergent standards for Supreme Court nominees.That suggests a future of conflicting litmus tests. As long as the White House and the Senate are controlled by different parties, future Supreme Court nominations may well generate further savage campaigns and accusations of smearing, further avoidance of pointed questions and accusations of evasion or deceit.

TV coverageA total of 466 callers responded to the SUNDIAL question about how much time was spent viewing the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings involving Judge Clarence Thomas. Fifty callers (10.7 percent) watched an hour or less; 84 (18 percent) spent between one and five hours; 86 (18.4 percent) watched between five and 10 hours; 169 (36.2 percent) watched more than 10 hours; and 77 (16.5 percent) said they watched none at all.Confirmation processNow that the confirmation process involving Judge Clarence Thomas is over, doubts linger over the manner in which candidates for the Supreme Court are selected.

Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's choice to replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, is eminently qualified - and only in part because of her background and inspiring life story. Rising from the "projects" in the Bronx, she graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and graduated from Yale Law School as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. At age 54, Judge Sotomayor has 17 years of federal judicial experience; she currently serves on the 2nd Court of Appeals based in New York.

Washington -- IF YOU ACCEPT the proposition that the process of confirming Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court is essentially a political exercise, then it becomes obvious that President Bush seized the high ground by choosing a black nominee.Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee may argue with some validity that Thomas' personal history in struggling up from poverty is not central to the question of whether he is qualified for the highest court. But it would be naive to imagine that experience has not given him a layer of political insulation in the confirmation process.

Senators rightly take very seriously their powers of advice and consent over treaties and major appointments, and nowhere is that power more zealously guarded than in the president's nominees for the nation's highest court. So it's reasonable that Senate Republicans would wish to be assured of ample time to question federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's choice to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, about her views on the law and the role of judges in interpreting it. What's not reasonable, however, is to use the confirmation process as an excuse for creating endless delays aimed solely at preventing Judge Sotomayor from taking her seat on the court before its next session begins in October, as the president indicated he wants.

Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's choice to replace Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, is eminently qualified - and only in part because of her background and inspiring life story. Rising from the "projects" in the Bronx, she graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and graduated from Yale Law School as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. At age 54, Judge Sotomayor has 17 years of federal judicial experience; she currently serves on the 2nd Court of Appeals based in New York.

President Bush nominated Maryland's top federal prosecutor last night to a seat on the nation's second-highest court based in Richmond, Va. U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, 42, of Bethesda had been linked to the judgeship on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a year before the White House announcement. But Maryland's two Democratic senators, who have long opposed such a nomination, immediately renewed their objections in what some political observers characterized as a major blow to Rosenstein's chances to reach the federal appeals court.

President Bush used events at the White House and Baltimore harbor yesterday to promote the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr., in an effort to pre-empt liberal attacks on his Supreme Court choice. The Senate should "rise to the occasion" with "a fair and civil process" that puts Roberts on the bench by early October, Bush said at the port of Baltimore. The president made a morning appearance there with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to deliver a speech about homeland security and the Patriot Act. Roberts is "somebody Americans will be proud to have seated on that bench," Bush said.

Michael Chertoff, President Bush's second pick to become the next secretary of homeland security, will enter his confirmation hearing today armed with a resume that seems handcrafted to counter the shortcomings of the failed nominee before him - two honors degrees from Harvard; a Supreme Court clerkship; tours as a federal judge; a U.S. attorney; and a top official in the Department of Justice. Yet revelations about Chertoff's role in advising the CIA on interrogation techniques and crafting the Patriot Act have ensured that his hearing today will focus on many of the same issues that dogged other Bush Cabinet nominees this year - terrorism, civil rights and America's evolving policies on torture.

Several City Council members are vowing that acting Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm will not slip through the confirmation process as easily as his predecessor did. Though council members say they have enormous respect for Hamm -- a familiar face in city law enforcement -- they fault themselves for not diligently looking into former Commissioner Kevin P. Clark's history before approving his appointment. "We will expect more information from the administration on his background," said Council President Sheila Dixon, who added that she will issue written guidelines about background checks.

Two Baltimore-area nominees to the federal bench, Ellen Lipton Hollander and James K. Bredar, moved a step closer to confirmation Thursday when the Judiciary committee voted to send their names to the full Senate. The Marylanders won approval on voice votes, without opposition, but could still face a considerable wait to begin their lifetime appointments. At least 23 other judicial nominees are already in line for Senate debate and final action, as Republicans continue to slow the confirmation process.

The Baltimore County Council will get its first crack at County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's top-level staff picks on Tuesday. Kamenetz, a Democrat, has submitted a list of nominees largely made up of Baltimore County government veterans, some of whom have shifted positions or returned from work in the private sector. The 17 nominees include Fred Homan, whom Kamenetz wants to keep as county administrative officer, and retired Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, who would head the new Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability.

Edward T. Norris, the brash New York police commander who came to Baltimore and re-engineered the city's approach to crime-fighting, stunned many officials and his 3,300-member force yesterday by accepting the job as Maryland's next state police superintendent. Norris, 42, who weathered occasional public relations controversies during his three-year Baltimore tenure, has been lauded by some as having posted reductions in crime that are among the nation's most impressive and for beginning a turnaround of the troubled Baltimore Police Department.

A Baltimore County councilman said yesterday that he wants to attach a time limit to a proposal that would give the council confirmation power over county department heads. Councilman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat, said he would offer an amendment that would give the council 40 days to act on nominations by the county executive. If the council failed to approve or deny a nominee in that time, the nominee would be confirmed. "The lack of leadership in a department could have a detrimental effect.