Liberal groups are upset at some of Barack Obama’s judicial nominees since the filibuster was scaled back

  We all remember when Harry Reid changed the filibuster rules in order to make it easier for the Democrats to pass Barack Obama’s nominees. Now, with the new rules in place some liberal groups, more than two dozen actually, are upset that not all of his choices have been liberal enough for their liking.

When Democrats changed Senate rules last year to limit the filibuster against White House nominees, it raised hopes among some liberals that President Obama would use his new power to reshape the federal judiciary. Now, just over three months later, some Democrats and progressive groups are instead trying to stop two of the president’s latest nominees to the federal bench on the grounds that they are too conservative.

  According to the story linked above the Republicans still do have some power to limit nominees because “blue slips” must still be presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee before a nominee can move forward:

Senators still hold virtual veto power over judicial nominations associated with their states under a custom of the Senate Judiciary Committee that requires senators to return a “blue slip” acquiescing in a nomination before it can move forward.

Blue slips have been difficult to get in the case of nominations from states where one or both senators are Republicans. Of 18 pending nominations from those states, according to the committee, no Republican blue slips have been submitted, and Democrats have submitted only a few.

  Senators in Georgia and the White House reached a deal in order to move six nominees forward:

In order to move forward on the two-year-old nomination of Jill Pryor of Atlanta to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the White House struck a deal with Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson that led to the nominations of five others, including Michael P. Boggs, a Georgia Court of Appeals judge, and Mark H. Cohen, a former state Democratic official, to vacancies in the Northern District of Georgia.

  Barack Obama, and the Democrats, have stated over and over again that they are willing to work with the Republicans in a bipartisan manner for the good of the country, and this appears to be one time where the president has made good on that promise, and now he is facing pressure from the left to withdraw support for two of the nominees because they are “too conservative.”

  It would seem to me on the surface that if the Democrats were serious about bipartisanship this would be a more than fair deal to accept. Out of the six nominees apparently four are liberal enough for the left while two are not, that seems like it should be an acceptable percentage. It seemed like a fair deal to Barack Obama, and that alone has me worried about the four nominees the left does not have a problem with. If these four judges are important enough to the president that he is willing to put forth the names of two conservative judges to get these nominees passed that that concerns me.

  While the Republicans in Georgia have compromised by letting these four nominees move forward it is apparent to me that these liberal groups are not willing to compromise on anything, proving the old adage that many conservatives hold–liberals idea of compromise is when the right gives in to all of the left’s demands. That doesn’t sound like compromise to me…..