The Senate's 41 Republicans on Monday sent a letter urging President Obama to fill vacant seats on the federal bench with former President George W. Bush's judicial nominees, arguing that the move would "help avoid another huge fight over the judiciary," The Politico reports. The letter said Obama would "change the tone in Washington" if he were to re-nominate Bush's former nominees, such as Glen Conrad, Paul Diamond and Peter Keisler. In addition, the senators asked that Obama respect their role in reviewing judicial nominees by asking for their consultation about potential nominees from their respective states. The letter warns that if the Republican senators are not consulted or do not approve of the nominees, then the Republican Conference "will be unable to support moving forward on that nominee" and "will act to preserve this principle and the rights of our colleagues if it is not." The Politico reports that "[i]n other words, Republicans are threatening a filibuster of judges if they're not happy."
The letter represents an "opening salvo in what could be a partisan battle in the Obama years," The Politico reports. Democrats "regularly complained" that Bush nominated conservative judges without their consultation, and the GOP-controlled Senate "ran roughshod over them even if the nominees lacked support from home state senators," according to The Politico. Gregory Craig, Obama's lawyer, already has started to reach out to senators regarding judicial nominees, although several Republicans "have warned Obama that the quickest way to squander bipartisan goodwill is to nominate far-left judges," The Politico reports (Raju, The Politico, 3/2).
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