September 2006

Tomorrow, the SenateJudiciary Committee will hold a Special Executive Business Meeting toconsider a series of nominees to federal circuit courts, including severalcontroversial nominees whom the Senate has previously declined to confirm. Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA)called Tuesday's meeting after a priormeeting (originally scheduled for last Thursday) reportedly failed toachieve a quorumof at least eight Senators when several Senators chose instead to attend a memorial service for labor rights icon Evy Dubrow.

Tuesday's hearing will likely concern several nominees whosenominations were returnedto the President on August 3, before they were re-nominatedsince then. These include U.S. DistrictJudge Terrence W. Boyle and Defense Department General Counsel William JamesHaynes II, both of whom were nominated and re-nominated to the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Fourth Circuit, as well as William Gerry Myers III and NormanRandy Smith, both nominated to the Ninth Circuit. Other nominees under close scrutiny includeFifth Circuit nominee Michael Wallace and D.C. Circuit nominee Peter D. Keisler.