Senate grilling no picnic for LDS judge

PROVO — A Provo resident and former Brigham Young University general counsel who once served as the U.S. Senate's lead counsel during President Clinton's impeachment hearing learned firsthand last year how uncomfortable the Senate confirmation process can be.

Thomas B. Griffith absorbed a Beltway beating before the Senate voted in June to confirm President Bush's nomination of Griffith as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

"It's not comfortable to be part of a process where some people are saying unkind things about you," Griffith told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday after returning to BYU to speak at a campus devotional. "On the other hand, I was and remain greatly honored President Bush nominated me and that I received overwhelming support from Republican and Democratic senators."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and others attacked Griffith's nomination because Griffith lost his D.C. law license when he failed to pay his bar association dues in the late 1990s. His license was renewed when he paid the dues. Critics also said Griffith should have been disqualified as a nominee because they said he had practiced law at BYU without joining the Utah Bar Association.

Griffith said his D.C. bar dues went unpaid because of a clerical error at his law firm. He also argued that he could work as BYU's in-house legal counsel as long as he had a license in D.C. and all his work was done with other campus lawyers who had Utah bar licenses.

The criticism became the subject of stories in national publications such as the Washington Post at a time when other Bush nominees were being blocked by Senate Democrats. Bush nominated Griffith in May 2004, but his and other nominations expired without a vote at the end of that year.

Bush renominated Griffith in February 2005. Though Leahy issued a long statement to the press opposing Griffith on the eve of the confirmation, the Senate voted 73-24 to confirm Griffith. The lopsided outcome indicated Griffith had been a caught up in some political posturing that ended with the vote — 20 Democrats voted for Griffith, including high-profile members of the party's Senate leadership, such as Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Griffith's years as lead counsel for the Senate proved helpful while his nomination was stalled.

"I think it helped on two levels," he said. "One, I had some familiarity with the process and how it plays out, and secondly, and most importantly, I knew a number of the key senators on both sides of the aisle and they knew me."

Griffith is enjoying work on the federal appeals court.

"It's really all-consuming," he said. "The cases are fascinating and complex."