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Sixteen years ago, the Senate was consumed by controversy over the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. After allegations by former co-worker Anita Hill that Thomas was guilty of sexual harassment, the Senate narrowly confirmed him to the bench on a 52-48 vote.

Justice Thomas has been mostly quiet since then. He rarely speaks from the bench or asks questions of lawyers during oral arguments. He also hasn’t spoken about the confirmation process — until now.

Thomas has a new memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” that tackles his experience before the Senate and more. He’s also making the rounds on a book tour. Hear what Thomas had to say at one stop:

Categories: Senate, Law & Judiciary, History, Courts

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is accusing the chamber’s Democrats of holding to a double standard about judicial nominees by blocking votes on a series of nominees for the 5th U.S. District Court in Mississippi in recent years.

Democrats have blocked the selection of two nominees, Charles Pickering and Michael Wallace. Leslie Southwick is the latest in line for the job, and like the two before him, he has the support of both senators from Mississippi, Republicans Thad Cochran and Trent Lott.

In the past, McConnell said, that was the standard Democrats said warranted up-or-down votes on senators, even if they had many opponents. But he argued that Democrats have not held to that standard for the 5th District Court. “Why are the views of the Mississippi senators irrelevant?” he said.

“I’m still hopeful that Senate Judiciary Democrats are not going to let this process deteriorate to such a point that we have a total malfunction on judges,” McConnell added, saying that his goal is to “return to some kind of normal process.”

Categories: Mississippi, Producer's Picks, Thad Cochran, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, Law & Judiciary, Courts

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The House on Thursday passed a bill that would grant the heavily Democratic District of Columbia a voting representative in the chamber. The vote, long sought by nonvoting District Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, was 241-177. The bill also would give Utah, a Republican-leaning state, another seat in the House, increasing its size to 437 members.

Here are video excerpts of the debate, as posted by the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.:

Norton
“I appeal to your conscience and ask for your vote so that finally there also will be a vote for your fellow Americans here who have paid for this precious right many times over in blood and in treasure.”

Pelosi
“Today we seek to affirm an enduring principle of our democracy — the right to be heard and represented fully. … This legislation corrects a serious flaw in our democracy.”

Tom Davis, R-Va.
“We [Republicans] exist as a party to increase representation and liberty in this country and in this world. This legislation is in the highest traditions of this party that fought for free speech, fought to abolish slavery and fought to give women a right to vote.”

Michael Arcuri, D-N.Y.
“The fact that approximately 600,000 U.S. citizens live under taxation without representation within the United States today is repugnant to the very notion of democracy. How can the United States deny democracy in its capital while it promotes democracy abroad.”

The fate of the bill in the Senate already is uncertain, however. The Senate parliamentarian ruled today that the chamber’s Finance Committee — rather than the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, whose chairman is a big advocate of voting rights for the capital city — has jurisdiction over the measure.

Categories: Virginia, New York, California, Nancy Pelosi, Law & Judiciary, Michael Arcuri, Government Reform, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Tom Davis, District of Columbia

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The Hotline team is talking about this week’s hottest controversies — a top general’s pointed words about gays in the military and the outcry over the firing of federal prosecutors. The latest political news, including the resurrection of the “Straight Talk Express” bus by Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, also is on the agenda.

Categories: Military, Arizona, Sen. John McCain, Presidency 2008, Gay Rights, Law & Judiciary, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, HotlineTV

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While visiting bloggers’ row earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, vowed to be an agent for governmental change if he is elected president in 2008.

“I will change Washington,” Romney said. “I changed businesses I was involved in. I changed the Olympics. I changed the state of Massachusetts. … Washington will end up with a government that is simpler and smarter and smaller — and that’s what conservatives want to rally around.”

In another clip from CPAC, Romney talked about the standards he would use in selecting judges. “You need people who will follow the law rather than legislating from the bench,” he said.

Categories: Massachusetts, Presidency 2008, Mitt Romney, Law & Judiciary

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