Bush nominees fuel a partisan firestorm

WASHINGTON — Combatants in the judicial wars agree on one thing: Their ferocious battles haven't dissuaded President Bush from continuing to select conservative nominees.

Of course, they dispute what that means.

For liberals, the Bush administration is seeking a right-wing takeover of the judiciary, one that would cut back abortion rights, civil rights and the separation of church and state.

To Bush's conservative backers, the president is seeking to rein in a judiciary that declares rights not found in the Constitution, such as the recent Supreme Court rulings favoring affirmative action and gay rights.

At the White House, meanwhile, aides said that Bush does not base his judicial selections on politics and that the nominees reflect the mainstream of American law and values.

"The president's nominees are chosen for their character, experience and intellect," said administration spokeswoman Ashley Snee. "And each follows the president's philosophy that judges should follow the law and not make the law."

Two nominees for federal circuit courts have inspired Democratic filibusters, including Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen. Critics also have protested selections for their criticism of a variety of Supreme Court legal precedents, most notably the Roe vs. Wade 1973 ruling that struck down anti-abortion laws.

These kinds of nominees, however, are important to the social conservatives who make up a large chunk of Bush's support, political analysts said.

They added that contentious nominations could help Republican efforts to change filibuster rules that currently give a single senator the right to block action unless 60 or more colleagues force a vote. That debate could be important if conservatives and liberals face the ultimate politico-judicial battle, filling a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"For Bush, in a lot of ways, these are no-lose propositions," said Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. "You gain a lot of credit with the right on these nominations."

Now that the Supreme Court has left for the summer without announcing any retirements, the debate remains centered on federal appellate courts. One of the latest controversies involves Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, whose nomination to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals illustrates the Mars-and-Venus nature of these judicial battles.