ARLEN SHIVA:

Three judges are flash points in Senate clash: A vote on their nominations Thursday could lead to long-awaited showdown over the federal courts. (Gail Russell Chaddock, 4/20/05, The Christian Science Monitor)

With tomorrow's committee vote on three of President Bush's most controversial judicial nominations, the Senate - urged on by some of the most powerful interests in Washington - is poised for a long-awaited showdown over the federal courts. [...]

By the pound, Priscilla Owen, nominee for the US Court of Appeals to the Fifth Circuit, faces the toughest confirmation fight. Her bulging opposition file, provided by minority Democrats, weighs in at 4.8 lbs and includes letters from more than 40 national groups ranging from Planned Parenthood and Friends of the Earth to the United Auto Workers. The opposition file for Janice Rogers Brown, a nominee to the District of Columbia Circuit, tops 3.5 lbs. In contrast, the file for Terrence Boyle, a nominee to the 4th Circuit, weighs less than a pound. [...]

A filibuster of any one of the president's nominees could provide the context for invoking the nuclear option, but the two women nominees, Ms. Owen and Ms. Brown, are the highest-profile cases.

From a GOP perspective you can't beat going nuclear over two women, one of them black.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 19, 2005 11:47 PM