03/30/06 Two court nominees await confirmations

It was just about this time last year that the US Senate started boiling over some of President Bush's Judicial Nominees. You might remember the threat by Democrats to block nominees like attorney Bill Myers of Boise to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the end the Senate did work out a compromise on judges, allowing confirmation votes on some, Myers not included. Senator Larry Craig hasn't given up on Myers. CRAIG "And we hope to get a vote on it in the next couple of months." Then there's the Randy Smith case. The eastern Idaho judge and nominee to the Ninth Circuit Court ran into an immediate roadblock from California Senator Diane Feinstein who threatened to hold his nomination in committee. CRAIG "But Senator Feinstein by her own admission now recognizes that some of the information that led her to make statements publicly was not well grounded." With immigration and the budget the Senate has to find time to consider nominees like Myers and Smith. CRAIG "The combination of them, trying to get our third federal judge, trying to get a division of the Ninth Circuit into a new circuit is something that both I and congressman Simpson and others are working overtime on here." Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott