Federal Judges

Associated Press: Senator Tim Johnson thinks it's ok to filibuster judges.  Remember that the Daschle Senate blocked 10 federal appeals court judges in the last Congress (note, we're not talking about run-of-the mill federal district court trial judges here).  These appeals court judges are important.  A reader notes:

Very interesting.  And as to the comment about federal appellate courts not being such a natural stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court, I would note the following:

Out of the 9 current Supreme Court justices, 7 previously served as federal appellate court judges.  The only exceptions are Rehnquist (joined the Supreme Court in 1972) and O'Connor (joined in 1981).  Therefore, over the past 24 years, all of the Supreme Court nominees (Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer) first served as federal appellate court judges.  The other justice (Stevens) also first served as an appellate court judge before joining the Supreme Court in 1975 (between the Rehnquist and O'Connor appointments).

Well, Senator Johnson says he'll help filibuster judges who "are out of the mainstream," according to the AP.  This really tells his constituents nothing.  What does that phrase mean?  SDP readers who are also constituents should inquire with Senator Johnson.  There will be some ferocious battles this year on judges, so we need to figure out where Johnson stands and what Orwellian phrases like "out of the mainstream" actually mean.