After vowing to block all confirmation votes until funding was allocated to a study on the Port of Charleston, Sen. Lindsey Graham backed down from his threat today, seeming “satisfied” by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s promise to try to find a way to get the project funded, TPM reports.
“Graham had spent the early part of the week angrily tweeting threats to shutdown the Senate nomination process because the funds weren't included in last Friday's 11th-hour budget deal or President Obama's 2012 budget request," TPM explains.
Graham’s threat comes as lawyers from around the country gather in Washington to participate in the American Bar Association's annual lobbying event, with a focus this year on moving judicial nominations forward.
"What members of the American legal profession from both sides of the aisle ask for is a new, concerted effort by all parties to put aside the backbiting, game-playing and foot-dragging," ABA President Stephen N. Zack writes on The Hill's Congress Blog.
He continues:
Congress should do so not for the judges, or to benefit any particular political party, or even because a group like the ABA asks them to. The reason to do it is because being able “seek redress” in the courts that is fair and timely is at the core of our nation, a fundamental right that we as Americans enjoy.
At the ABA gathering, White House Counsel Robert Bauer called on lawyers, judges, commentators and business groups to "escalate significantly the general sense of urgency" about the judicial nominations, echoing comments he made during a February ACS event that focused on the judicial vacancy crisis.
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