Senate confirms Brown, Pryor, two others

By Tom Strode - Jun 15, 2005

The U.S. Senate overcame filibusters and confirmed both Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor as judges on federal appeals courts in votes June 8 and 9, respectively.

Senators voted 56-43 for Brown’s nomination to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and 53-45 for Pryor’s nomination to the 11^th^ Circuit Court. Along with Fifth Circuit nominee Priscilla Owen, Brown and Pryor were hotly contested selections by President Bush who received votes as part of a compromise agreed to in late May by 14 senators.

Seven Democrats committed not to filibuster the three nominees but made no commitment on other judicial appointees, reserving the right to filibuster in “extraordinary circumstances,” which were not defined. The seven Republicans in the agreement committed not to support an attempt to change the rule requiring 60 votes to end a judicial filibuster.

The Senate confirmed Owen by a 56-43 vote May 25.

“Despite more than four years of heated rhetoric and mischaracterizations of their records, up-or-down votes on Justices Owen and Brown did not result in the sky falling, or the end of the minority party’s free-speech rights,” Sen. John Cornyn, R.-Texas, said in a written statement after Brown’s confirmation. “The same will be true when we vote on the President’s other well-qualified nominees to the federal bench—and we will.”

“William Pryor believes in interpretation of the law—not rewriting the law according to his own political views,” Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn., said during debate, according to Baptist Press.

Senators also approved June 9 two nominees to the Sixth Circuit whose confirmations had been blocked. They voted 96-0 for David McKeague and 95-0 for Richard Griffin.

The Democrats involved in the compromise made no commitments to oppose the filibusters of two other appellate nominees, William Myers to the Ninth Circuit and Henry Saad to the Sixth Circuit. Other appeals court nominees whose fate remains uncertain are Terrence Boyle and William Haynes, both recommended for the Fourth Circuit, and Brett Kavanaugh, a choice for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Organizations that favor abortion and homosexual rights have been among the leaders in opposing the filibustered nominees.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has urged GOP senators to act to end the filibusters of appellate nominees before there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Many observers expect Chief Justice William Rehnquist to retire this summer. Rehnquist has been battling thyroid cancer since last fall.

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