Y. counsel has shot at D.C. appeals court

WASHINGTON — Democratic filibustering that torpedoed one GOP judicial nominee might just be good luck for Utahn Thomas B. Griffith.

Griffith, the general counsel for Brigham Young University, is apparently on a short list of finalists for nomination to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, often considered the nation's second-highest court because of a caseload that deals heavily with federal legislation, policy and agencies.

A vacancy exists there because Miguel Estrada, who had been the first Hispanic ever nominated to that high court, withdrew recently after Democrats blocked his nomination for months. Republicans were never able to attract the three-fifths majority needed to limit debate and force a final vote.

Democrats contended that Estrada is so conservative on issues such as abortion that he might not be able to overcome strong personal feelings and follow the law. They have used similar arguments to wage ongoing filibusters against other appeals court nominees including Charles Pickering, Carolyn Kuhl and Priscilla Owen.

No appeals court nominee had ever been filibustered in the full Senate until this year.

The Washington Post reported that Griffith now may be the frontrunner for the nomination once held by Estrada, but the Bush administration is also considering such people as Lee Liberman Otis, one of the founders of the Federalist Society, and Principal Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement.

Griffith is said to be strongly endorsed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, but Hatch also reportedly thinks highly of the others. Clement once worked as a GOP staffer on the Judiciary Committee.

Hatch spokeswoman Margarita Tapia said, "Senator Hatch has a very high opinion of Tom Griffith's legal abilities and thinks he's doing an excellent job as counsel for BYU. He (Hatch) is committed to working to confirm all of the president's fine judicial nominees. It's the president's decision who to nominate for the D.C. Circuit."

Observers say that one advantage Griffith may have is that he worked closely with Democratic and Republican leaders alike when he was the Senate legal counsel from 1995 to 1999, representing the institution and its officers in civil litigation — including matters surrounding the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.

They say the ties he formed with Democrats then might make him more easy to confirm than other Republicans who have run into filibusters recently.

Griffith himself declined to comment when contacted by the Deseret Morning News.

Besides his work at BYU and as the Senate legal counsel, Griffith was also a former law partner in the Washington law firm of Wiley, Rein and Fielding.

He obtained a bachelor's degree from BYU in 1978 and earned his law degree in 1985 from the University of Virginia Law School, where he was editor of the Virginia Law Review.

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