THE PROCESS of picking the next president is hogging the spotlight, but the public should also be paying attention to the process of vetting federal judges.
The federal courts badly need judges to fill 45 vacancies. Putting hard-right ideologues on these courts - especially the federal appellate courts from which future Supreme Court justices are often drawn - has been a high priority for the Bush administration. That was easier to do when Republicans controlled the Senate.
If President Bush is serious about filling vacancies on the court before his term ends, he would be wise to send over candidates with greater bipartisan appeal. Nominating such judges would also be politically shrewd, for it would increase pressure on Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve his nominees.
Instead, Bush has missed good opportunities to do just that. For a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the president last year offered the name of Virginia lawyer E. Duncan Getchell. The nominee recently took himself out of consideration, claiming that the Senate Democratic leadership would not let his hearing proceed.
But there's much more to this story. By tradition, US senators have significant influence over the appointment of federal judges in their states. But Getchell's nomination lacked the support of his two senators - Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb. This was enough to derail his nomination. In fact, the two senators had submitted a list of other potential nominees to the president, but Bush ignored it. He might give their list a longer look this time around.
Senate Democrats have an important role to play as well. In reviewing these nominees, the Judiciary Committee has to strike a balance between acting expeditiously and screening out poor candidates. This job could get tougher as the presidential race heats up.
Recently, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont has made glancing references to the so-called Thurmond rule. Named after the late senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the unofficial rule holds that the judicial nominating process tends to slow down as the presidential race heats up, because senators want to leave openings for the next president to fill.
As the presidential campaign season gets longer and longer, the Thurmond rule could be a recipe for paralysis in the judicial confirmation process in the future. For his part, Leahy's staff maintains that he plans to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. But if Bush wants to help speed things along, he ought to nominate "consensus candidates" who have strong records and the support of both Republicans and Democrats.
