VIEW: 19-52: Shock, A Senate Committee Working

VIEW FROM HERE
By Bob McDowell (Born Neil Carson) Number 19-52
SHOCK, A SENATE COMMITTEE WORKING Week of 2019/12/30
A pleasant surprise appeared in the Tulsa World, daily newspaper, on
December 21. Somewhat buried on page A-6 was an AP story credited to Matthew
Daly headlined "Senate approves 13 judge nominees".Well it's about time some
recognition in reporting be given to the Senate Judiciary Committee for actually doing
the assigned duties, that is processing judge appointments made by the president.
The story stated that the "Senators had confirmed a batch of 13 'conservative'
judicial nominees, bringing to 102 the number approved this year - more than twice
the annual average over the past three decades".
A radio talk show a few days later raised the number to 105, if memory is
accurate. It should be remembered that one of the PRESDT-45 promises in
campaigning was to nominate more Constitutionally oriented judges to the Federal
courts, a promise he has solidly, and it seems eagerly, kept.
It continues to state that this year numbers included 20 to the Courts of appeals
and bringing the total to those, in my opinion, rather notorious in past decades for
being "activist" oriented, courts to 50 in the three years he has been in office. He has
often ranted about the bias of the Ninth Circuit of Appeals Court, sitting in San
Francisco. In every case, the appointments have been to fill a vacant seat, telling me
that his predecessors were not doing their jobs in making appointments, or the Senate
was not moving to approve appointments that were being made. In some cases that
might have been proper since the candidate may have had the wrong, in the Senate
point of view, Constitutional persuasion.
Just a little background here, from my memory. During the administration of
PRESJC-39,D-GA, a cry arose from those using the Federal Court system, at all
levels, that the court dockets were overcrowded and Congress passed for him a law
which doubled the number of judicial seats and allowed him to appoint that number
as well as nominations for vacancies that existed or came open and thus he was
responsible for well over half of the resulting number of judges. Every one appointed
during his term of office, from January, 77 to January, 80, were of the more 'activist'
type giving the us situation we have been in since.
Of course, the Supreme Court was not affected. The Constitution provides for
establishing the Supreme Court and Authorizes the Congress to establish such lower
courts as seem to be needed. In any event, since all these Federal Judges are
appointed for 'life', it will be a number of decades before there will be a reversal of
what he is now on the way to accomplishing, to our benefit!!
Credit should also be given to the Judiciary Committee of the Senate which has
not been historically prompt in evaluating his nominations and passing judgement on
them to be appointed. In my memory is a nomination of one of my closest friends,
Wm. H. Erickson of Denver to the Supreme Court, I believe in the late 1970's.
He was extremely well qualified, but when he was seated for his hearing before the
Committee, the first thing out of the mouth of the then chairman, Paul Simon, D-IL,
was, as reported to me, "Mr. Erickson I'm here to tell you that unless you resign
your membership in Cherry Hills Country Club, you wont even get a hearing in
this Committee". According to Bill, he replied "Mr. Chairman, in that case you can
shove the nomination in your ear" and walked out of the room, my understanding
with the media cameras still rolling. Bill later became Chief Justice of the Colorado
Supreme Court.
This has stuck in my mind since because of the irony and displayed bias and
ignorance of Senator Simon, who was of the Jewish Faith but did not know that
not one Jew had ever applied to Cherry Hills because they had an older and equally
beautiful country club with no gentile members. I had a couple of chances to play
their golf course in professional association golf tournaments and can attest to the
ambiance there, but have never been on the Cherry Hills course..
In any event it was surprising to me to see the article in the World but thank
them for at least carrying it since the record of achievement has not bee seen
elsewhere!!
END
Composed December 27, 2019
Robert W. McDowell, Jr. 841 Lynwood Lane
918-451-1051 Broken Arrow OK 74011-8608
Email: abdmcfpi@localnet.com