Bush revives stalled bench nominations

WASHINGTON —  President Bush irked Senate Democrats on Wednesday by resubmitting the names of six judicial nominees whom they had stalled before the election as too conservative for the bench.

The president also submitted four new judicial nominees, including former U.S. Rep. James E. Rogan of Glendale, who gained national attention as one of the managers of the House impeachment of President Clinton.

A year after the effort to remove Clinton from office failed with the president’s acquittal in the Senate in 1999, voters ousted the Republican.

Rogan went on to head the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In August, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose him to be a Superior Court judge in Orange County.

In a statement Wednesday, Bush said he was nominating Rogan to be a federal judge in the central district of California, based in Los Angeles.

Unlike nominees to appeals courts, nearly all of those for district judgeships are confirmed without controversy.

But several Senate Democrats were angered by the news that Bush wanted approval of some controversial nominees.

They include the Pentagon’s general counsel, William J. Haynes II of Virginia, who was criticized for approving the harsh interrogation methods at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; former mining industry lobbyist William G. Myers III of Idaho, who has been targeted for defeat by environmentalists; and U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle, who has been opposed by civil rights advocates.

“Democrats have asked the president to be bipartisan, but this is a clear slap in the face at our request,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who is likely to become chairman of the judiciary committee in January, accused Bush of “choosing partisanship over progress and division over unity, at the expense of a fair and independent judiciary.”

Bush has won Senate approval for more than 250 new judges, but each year Republicans and Democrats have fought bitterly over a handful of contested nominees.

Democrats succeeded in blocking final votes on several who were to be appeals court judges. When the Senate recessed for the elections, several nominations were returned without action.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said the nominations were resubmitted because this session of Congress was not finished. “These nominations were pending in the Senate and were waiting an up-or-down vote,” she said.

Also on the list was Mississippi lawyer Michael Wallace, who was given a rare, unanimous rating of “unqualified” by the American Bar Assn.

Another stalled nominee, N. Randy Smith of Idaho, was opposed by California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer because he was chosen to fill a seat on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that has traditionally been held by a Californian.

Bush also renominated Peter D. Keisler, a highly regarded Washington lawyer and head of the Justice Department’s civil division, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Unlike the other nominees, Keisler has not been criticized as unqualified or extreme in his views, but the Democrats have hesitated to approve him.

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david.savage@latimes.com