Disputed Judicial Nominee Clears Senate Panel

Senate Republicans set the stage Thursday for a battle over the right of Democrats to block President Bush’s judicial nominees, but tried to ease the escalating tension with a letter saying they were open to compromise.

On a party-line vote of 10 to 8, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of William G. Myers III to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, paving the way for debate on the Senate floor -- and a threatened showdown over filibustering.

But late in the day, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) saying he would soon offer a proposal that took “account of complaints both parties have had with the confirmation process.”

Frist offered no specifics but said he would release details after Congress returned from its Easter recess April 4. Reid quickly responded with a statement welcoming Frist’s “more constructive approach.”

Myers, whose record on environmental issues has alarmed Senate Democrats, is among appellate court candidates renominated by Bush after being blocked previously by filibusters.

A longtime lobbyist for the mining and cattle industries, Myers, 49, served as the Interior Department’s top lawyer during the first two years of the Bush administration. His judicial nomination failed in the full Senate when Republicans could not get the necessary 60 votes to end debate. He received 53 votes.

Virtually every major environmental organization in the nation opposes Myers’ nomination, along with civil rights, labor and American Indian groups.

His backers say he would bring balance to the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. The court considers many environmental cases.

Bush has said his nominees have a right to an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. Frist has said he may attempt to change Senate rules so that debate could be ended with a simple majority of 51 votes. Republicans control the Senate, 55 to 45.

A move changing rules on filibusters is such a volatile topic in the Senate that it is known as the “nuclear option.” This week, Reid threatened to block virtually all business in the chamber if Republicans carried out Frist’s plan.

At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been an outspoken opponent of Myers’ bid for the bench, said he feared that the nomination was “likely to be used as the trigger to institute the ‘nuclear option.’ ”

Schumer also criticized Bush for renominating the judges who were blocked last year. “The president keeps recycling nominees like William Myers, whose words and deeds make him the most antienvironmental nominee we have ever seen. In this case, recycling is bad for the environment.”

Several other Democrats on the committee, including Dianne Feinstein of California, criticized Myers’ record. Feinstein said Myers’ history showed “there was no reason to believe someone would get a fair shake” in cases dealing with environmental issues.

Myers was defended by committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who said “you can find some faults” with Myers’ record but “the totality is very good.”

He said Myers, now in private practice in Boise, Idaho, had been a “distinguished lawyer” who had “fought vigorously to safeguard the environment and conserve natural resources.”

Specter said that Myers, while in government, had taken actions that had benefited the environment in California, New York, Alaska and Texas, among other places, and that in his private life had logged about 200 hours as a volunteer at national parks.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) spoke briefly on the looming confrontation over filibusters, challenging Schumer’s description of Senate history. “The ‘nuclear option’ is merely restoration of 200 years of constitutional interpretation on [the Senate’s role of] advice and consent,” Cornyn said.

Although Myers is the first of the controversial nominees to clear the committee, it does not mean he necessarily will be the first to come to the floor. That decision is up to Frist, not Specter.

The Judiciary Committee has already held hearings on two of the other controversial judicial candidates whom Bush renominated, and afterward Specter said he anticipated holding hearings on three of the others -- including California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who has been nominated to the federal appeals court in Washington -- in the near future.

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Weinstein reported from Los Angeles; Reynolds from Washington.