Washington – In private talks with Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Senate’s top Democrat has indicated a willingness to allow confirmation of at least two of President Bush’s seven controversial appeals court nominees, but only as part of a compromise requiring Republicans to abandon threats to ban judicial filibusters, officials said Monday.
At the same time Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., offered to clear two nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for approval, officials said he requested that a third appointee be replaced by an alternative who is preferred by Michigan’s two Democratic senators.
The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the conversations between the two leaders.
Reid issued a statement during the day saying he has had numerous conversations with senators from both parties in hopes of avoiding a showdown.
“As part of any resolution, the nuclear option must be off the table,” the statement concluded, referring to the GOP threat of banning judicial filibusters.
Majority Republicans have threatened for weeks to unilaterally change long-standing senatorial practices that Democrats used to block 10 of Bush’s first-term appeals court nominations. The president has renominated seven of the 10 since winning re-election.
Democrats, who argue that the judges are too conservative to warrant lifetime appointments, have threatened to block them again with a tactic that requires supporters to post 60 votes before proceeding to a final roll call.
Frist and Reid have been discussing the overall issue privately for weeks, each man publicly stressing a willingness to seek a compromise while maneuvering for political advantage in the event of a showdown.
Apart from the seven controversial appeals court nominees, the issue also is seen as a proxy of sorts over future vacancies on an aging Supreme Court. Democrats fear Bush could have a second-term opportunity to shift the court rightward, possibly even ushering in a new era of hostility to abortion rights.
Spokesmen for Frist and Reid declined to comment on their private discussions.
