By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
At a confirmation hearing boycotted by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske made his pitch Wednesday to become the nation's drug czar, saying he would take a balanced, science-based approach to the job.
Kerlikowske pledged to help develop a strategy to address drug-related violence along the Mexican border.
President Obama last month nominated Kerlikowske, 59, as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he favors tough enforcement of anti-drug laws, but added that "punishment alone will not solve the problems of drugs and violence."
The panel's Republicans did not weigh in on the issue, though. They followed Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in boycotting the hearing to protest the "unreasonable pace" that Leahy is moving on President Obama's judicial nominations. The committee also considered the appointment of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton to the U.S. Court Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
By AMY HARDER
A panel discussion hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center on Monday offered the Obama administration warnings and advice for navigating the forthcoming judicial nominations that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is hoping the president will send to his committee before lawmakers' spring recess early next month.
James Flug, who worked for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., as counsel and later as chief counsel, has experienced the intricacies of judicial nominations from the staff level. Flug advises President Obama to "lay out what his principles of selection are in a way that's clear and simple and honest and that reflects these values and the values he wants to see an an appellate judge. There's a real opportunity for leadership," said Flug.
He cautioned, however, that Senate Republicans' recent threat to filibuster the president's choices before they've even been laid out suggests that the GOP is "not in good faith." Sarah Binder, George Washington professor and Brookings Institute senior fellow, reiterated that caution, saying the unified control Democrats enjoy in both houses of Congress is "not magic or a silver bullet" when it comes to confirming judicial nominees. She predicted that many judges appointed during Jimmy Carter's administration, who did not want to retire while a Republican was in office, could likely choose to now.
Obama should find a way to inform his millions of followers, mostly amassed during the campaign, about judicial nominations, Flug said. Emphasizing that people don't understand the process and issues as well as they should, Flug said that if Obama "can give a very clear and candid and understandable version of what he's looking for in a judge, the public will become a part of the process."
The panelists often referenced the divergent confirmation processes of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both nominated by George W. Bush in his second term. While the former was rather clean and simple, the panelists agreed, the latter created unwelcome controversy. A nomination of this level isn't as imminent as those at the lower-level federal courts, but it is expected that at least one -- possibly up to three -- Supreme Court justices will retire during Obama's term. Considering how technology has evolved, especially in terms of e-mail and electronic document retrieval, Flug said confirmation could become a much more time-consuming process that delves deeply into the nominee's past life. Sometimes too much so, he added.
New York Times Washington correspondent David Kirkpatrick, who has covered Supreme Court and executive branch nominations, said that the structure of a judicial confirmation by way of the Senate creates an "atmosphere of a treasure hunt," almost as if lawmakers are searching for a piece of information about nominees before the news media gets to it. "It is a bizarre experience to be a part of it," Kirkpatrick said.
By ANDREW NOYES
Academics, industry executives, congressional aides and high-profile attorneys are among those whose names are swirling as potential candidates for the high-level White House job to oversee government-wide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting efforts in the Obama administration.
The position was written into a broader intellectual property bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Penn., along with Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. President Bush signed the legislation last month.
Leahy will offer a list of names to Obama's transition team, but the post is viewed as "second-tier" -- one that will be addressed after Cabinet and other major nominations are made. Leahy's picks will be "pretty weighty," one source said, noting that he was one of several senators to endorse Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., early in the Democratic primaries.
