Senate Panel Battles Over 2 Judicial Nominees

Senate Republicans forced committee approval of two of President Bush’s judicial nominees Thursday, despite efforts by Democrats to delay action as they have delayed the high-profile nomination of Miguel A. Estrada to the federal appellate bench.

Democrats said Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) overrode committee rules to send U.S. Court of Appeals nominees Deborah Cook and John Roberts to the Republican-controlled Senate, despite their objections that they had the right to continue holding the nominees in committee.

Democrats had agreed earlier to allow the appellate court nomination of Jay Bybee to go through.

Hatch said he was within his rights under committee rules to force a final vote.

“We’re not going to have filibusters in committee,” said an angry Hatch at the end of a three-hour hearing in which he exchanged sharp words with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The hearing was heated at times, with Democrats at one point walking out to prevent Hatch from having enough committee members present to vote. “You may bully some, but you’re not going to bully me,” Kennedy told Hatch.

“You’re not going to bully me either,” Hatch replied later.

For three weeks, Democrats have held up a confirmation vote on Estrada’s nomination by threatening a filibuster.

Now Democrats are likely at least to ask for an extended Senate floor debate on Roberts and Cook to protest Hatch’s action.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the lead Judiciary Democrat, said Hatch is ignoring committee rules that require a Democrat to agree to end a committee filibuster. Hatch said Senate parliamentarians informed him that as chairman, he could force a vote on the president’s nominees.

Cook, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, was approved by the committee by a 12-2 vote, with the rest of the Democrats passing or voting “present” to reserve their right to bring the issue up on the Senate floor. Roberts, a Washington appellate lawyer, was approved by the 19-member committee by a 14-3 vote, with the rest of the Democrats passing or voting present.

The committee also sent the appellate court nomination of Bybee, a Justice Department lawyer in Nevada, to the Senate for confirmation by a 12-6 vote, with Leahy again voting present.

Democrats say they didn’t have enough time to question Cook and Roberts during their original confirmation hearing because Hatch had three federal appellate candidates at the same hearing, instead of considering them one at a time.