Having succeeded in putting Brett Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit – he was confirmed on May 26 in a very divided Senate vote, 57-36, and sworn in to his seat on the bench on June 1 – those trying to pack the courts with far-right ideologues do not seem to be taking a breather. A publication called The Hill reports that the White House and outside conservative groups are planning to work closely with their friends in the Senate to get more Court of Appeals nominees confirmed. Among those they have in mind are Terrence Boyle for the Fourth Circuit and Michael Wallace for the Fifth Circuit. We’ve previously noted some of the problems surrounding those two nominations (like Wallace’s unanimous rating of “Not Qualified” by the ABA).
And there are other divisive nominees waiting in the wings as well. One awaiting Senate action is William J. Haynes, currently General Counsel in the Defense Department and nominated to the Fourth Circuit. Haynes has drawn opposition from important Republican Senators like Judiciary Committee member and former military lawyer Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and former military officer John McCain (R-AZ), as well as a number of retired military lawyers, who object to Haynes’ role as the Pentagon’s top lawyer when controversial policies were adopted allowing harsh treatment of detainees captured in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. There’s also William G. Myers III, nominated to the Ninth Circuit and strongly opposed by environmental groups who say he favored miners and ranchers at the expense of the environment when he was Solicitor in the Interior Department from 2001-2003.
And if that’s not enough to make your hair stand on end, WH officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers (remember her?) reportedly have told conservative activists and Senate staff that the administration will soon send the names of more than 20 additional nominees to the Senate for confirmation. More battles lie ahead if the new nominees are anything like the ones mentioned above.
