Democrats finally broke the filibuster on judicial nominees, and what does this President do? . . . [View all]

[markpkessinger]

. . . Why, he outsources the selection of five judicial vacancies on the federal bench in Georgia to Republicans, of course, like any other President would do! Oh, wait . . .

FFS! God forbid this President should actually use an advantage Congressional Democrats handed to him!

[font size=4]Democratic Members Of Congress Slam Obama For Massive Cave To Republicans On Judges[/font]

BY IAN MILLHISER JANUARY 6, 2014 AT 3:53 PM

Last November, Senate Democrats invoked a procedural maneuver that allowed them to confirm judicial nominees by a simple majority vote, thus cutting off the GOP’s ability to maintain control over a key federal appeals court by simply refusing to permit anyone to be confirmed. So it’s a bit odd that, just over a month after Senate Republicans effectively lost their ability to veto nominees from the minority. President Obama decided to outsource selecting nominees to most of the open judicial seats in Georgia to two Republican senators.

Presently, five judicial vacancies need to be filled in Georgia. Yet, 2013 wound down, Obama agreed to a deal that would place most of these seats in Republican hands. As we explained in September when this deal was under consideration,

Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) would agree to stop blocking attorney Jill Pryor’s nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit — a nomination that they have effectively held up for well over 1000 days. In return, Obama would nominate a George H.W. Bush-appointed judge — Chief Judge Julie Carnes of the Northern District of Georgia — to the other open seat on the Eleventh Circuit, creating a fourth vacancy on this federal trial court. Chambliss and Isakson would then be allowed to select three of the four attorneys named to these seats.

Now that Obama has formally nominated this Republican slate of judges, his usual allies in Georgia’s congressional delegation are not happy. Shortly after the nominees were announced, civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) warned that these nominees “do not adequately reflect the diversity of the northern district and that the selection process lacked meaningful community input,” and that “several nominees include persons who have advocated in favor of Georgia’s voter ID laws and for including the Confederate Battle Emblem as part of the Georgia State Flag.” He was joined in his complaint about these nominees by several of his fellow civil rights leaders, as well as Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and David Scott (D-GA).

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