Projo Politics Blog

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, last week said the time might have passed already for the White House to successfully nominate candidates for a vacancy on the U.S. District Court in Providence and for the vacant 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seat long held by a Rhode Islander.

But at the same time, Political Scene has heard that the White House might be getting close to nominating people for those vacancies, which were created when former Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres and former Circuit Judge Bruce M. Selya left full-time service and assumed senior status about 10 months ago.

Those seen as front-runners for the 1st Circuit seat include U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente and District Court Judge William E. Smith. Those seen as front-runners for the District Court judgeship include Corrente and U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond, son of former Republican Gov. Lincoln C. Almond.

Whitehouse, a former U.S. Attorney and Rhode Island attorney general, spoke at the Roger Williams University School of Law last week, and afterward he was asked if the Bush administration had reached the point at which it’s too late to make those appointments.

“I think we’ve reached it, particularly based on the process we’ve gone through so far,” Whitehouse replied. “There has been zero meaningful discussion between the White House and the Senate on these appointments.”

With the presidential elections coming up in November 2008, some question whether Senate Democrats would confirm a Bush nominee at this point. Also, senators have the ability to block or “blue-slip” nominees from their home state, so the administration would need support from Whitehouse and Democratic Sen. Jack Reed.

Whitehouse said, “There are new people at the White House who may be interested in compromise, but so far we have not seen any signs of their being interested in working on a consensus candidate for the 1st Circuit or for the District Court. And when you consider that time is as short as it is, why we would consider a lifetime appointment for a Bush appointee in the waning days of the administration when they haven’t even worked with us, just doesn’t make sense.”

In March 2006, Torres and Selya announced that they would step down from full-time service in December 2006. Just a few days after Selya’s announcement, then-Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee held a news conference at his Providence office to announce that he was recommending former state Supreme Court Justice Robert G. Flanders Jr. for the 1st Circuit vacancy. But the White House never nominated Flanders or anyone else for the 1st Circuit or District Court seats. And Chafee, who was then a Republican, lost the November election to Whitehouse.

The 1st Circuit vacancy has been declared a “judicial emergency” by the Judicial Conference of the United States, which is the governing body that sets federal court policy and speaks on behalf of the U.S. judicial system. Also, Selya, who for years was the only Rhode Islander on the 1st Circuit, has spoken about the importance of having a Rhode Islander on the Boston-based appellate court and of filling the District Court vacancy.

When reached on Friday, Selya said, “I’m really very disappointed in the senator’s remarks. This is not a political game. The courts and the country and the state need these judges, and the question ought to be not who makes these nominations but the quality of the nominees.”

Selya, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, said, “If this president or any future president nominates a first-class person, then that man or woman deserves to be considered on the merits and not held up because someone is waiting for some kind of political accommodation to be made.”

--By Edward Fitzpatrick, Katherine Gregg, Steve Peoples and Scott MacKay

Journal staff writers

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