Groups criticize Abraham for blocking judicial nominations

For more than three years, the Senate Judiciary Committee has refused to consider Clinton's nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Helene White for a vacancy on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Abraham (R-Mich.) is part of the reason for that delay. When a judge is nominated, senators from the judge's home state must turn in "blue slips" telling the Senate Judiciary Committee to proceed with the nomination process. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has turned in a slip for White, but Abraham hasn't.

Abraham's spokesperson Joe Davis said the senator won't tell the committee to proceed because he has some disagreements with the White House about White's nomination.

"He has serious problems with the way the process was conducted, and the (Clinton) administration has said they agree with that. It's not reflected on her personally," Davis said.

Davis wouldn't elaborate on the reasons for the argument, saying Abraham is still trying to work out an agreement with the White House.

But Marilyn Coulter, civil rights chair of United Auto Workers Local 602, said there can be no excuse good enough for the delay. "If people are capable of doing the job and they are nominated, how dare (the senators) make them wait so long," she said.

"If it takes them three years to make up their minds, maybe they're not sitting where they need to be," she said.

Columbus Clayton, a pastor at New Mount Cavalry Baptist Church, said Abraham eventually will be held accountable for stalling the nomination. "In the upcoming elections, we will remember how you voted and how you stood," he said.

Democrats have long contended that Republicans use stalling tactics to keep Clinton nominees off the federal bench, and that minority and women nominees have fared the worst.

According to a recent report by the bipartisan Constitution Project, the Senate during the 1997-98 session took an average 186 days either to accept or reject white nominees, but 246 days for minorities. Moreover, the rejection rate was 14 percent for the 92 white, and 35 percent for the 31 minority nominees.

In response, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Judiciary Committee chair responsible for moving judge nominations through the Senate, has pointed out that 45 percent of the judicial nominees reported to the Senate floor this year have been women or minorities.

Davis added that Abraham supported several female and black nominees in the confirmation process last year, including U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts.

"If there was an attack on us that says we're insensitive to African-Americans or women, I think that it is completely unfounded," he said.

Still, Lansing retiree Patricia Curran said Abraham should work with his Republican colleagues to get nominations heard instead of stalling the process.

"Justice delayed is justice denied, and the courts should not be a shuttlecock in a political badminton game," she said.

11-09-99