Republicans' Latest Nomination Stunt Long on Empty Rhetoric, Short on Facts

Statement of Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron

April 10, 2008, Washington, DC—"Once again, Republicans are ratcheting up the rhetoric over judges, trotting out misleading statistics and calculated outrage. Today's latest stunt on the Senate floor was no exception. Numbers came fast and furious, often at the expense of the facts. Facts like the Bush administration eschewing cooperation and consultation with home state senators. Facts like the administration's continued insistence on stymieing the Senate when asked for more information on individuals who are nominated to lifetime positions on the federal bench. 

"Senate Republicans lob quite a few stones from their glass house, bemoaning the actions of Senate Democrats as politicizing the process when it is the Bush administration and its allies that treat judicial selection as a take-no-prisoners item on a political agenda. It is not Senate Democrats who have threatened to grind the nation's business to a halt—not once, but twice—because they aren't getting their way. It is not Senate Democrats who use the federal bench as red meat for their base. This latest sally is nothing more than sound and fury signifying an election year."