No bipartisanship in Bush nomination

The Virginian-Pilot

With one-third of the seats on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals sitting vacant, the White House has thrown its weight behind more stalemate.

Why, given the need to get more nominees confirmed promptly, would President Bush recommend a candidate who doesn't appear on a bipartisan list laboriously assembled by Virginia Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb?

It's hard to fathom. Unless, of course, the White House has decided that tossing yet another bone to the GOP's conservative base has more merit than the orderly business of the judiciary.

The probable rejection of - or, more likely, inaction on - the nomination of Duncan Getchell, a Richmond appellate lawyer and partner at McGuireWoods, has little to do with paper qualifications. Getchell, who was ranked "highly qualified' by the Virginia State Bar, appears perfectly able to do the job well.

But the judicial vetting process is always as much about philosophy and political credentials as it is about the ability to write a skillful legal opinion. For the president to pretend otherwise is disingenuous at best.

To present a Democrat-led Senate with a judicial nominee who is a member of the conservative Federalist Society and whose clients include the Virginia GOP is a non-starter, or at least an unnecessary invitation to a fight.

Republican Sen. John Warner, a realist and a centrist, knows that. Getchell was on a three-person list of candidates submitted to the White House by Warner and former Sen. George Allen, prior to Allen's defeat last fall. But when Warner and his new colleague - Webb - assembled a list of well-qualified candidates they could both endorse, Getchell fell by the wayside.

That's how politics works. When the public affirms your philosophy with its votes, you earn the right to be heard. When the voters send mixed signals by electing players from different parties, then the participants are obligated to seek consensus.

Maybe Bush would like to ignore Allen's defeat, but he doesn't get that option.

In a typically forthright and clear-eyed statement, Warner explained why his first list included Getchell and his second one didn't. "The change is due simply to the fact that as a consequence of the November election, Democrats are now the majority party both in the full Senate and on the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Bush can count as well as Warner. But he preferred to make a political statement than to get on with the work of staffing the 4th Circuit. The court and its currently overworked members deserve better.