Senate floor vote likely on Providence lawyer John J. McConnell nomination to U.S. District Court

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Wednesday that the parliamentary process has been set in motion for a Senate floor vote this year on President Obama’s controversial nomination of Providence lawyer John J. McConnell Jr. to the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island.

Time is running out on this Congress, and difficult debates loom on preserving benefits for many jobless workers, extending the Bush-era tax cuts for millions of Americans and keeping the government financed, among other issues. So a Democratic decision to press for many hours of debate and votes on four judicial nominees could precipitate a partisan battle.

Among Mr. Obama’s dozens of nominees to the federal courts, McConnell, a prominent plaintiff’s lawyer, is one of a handful who have drawn determined opposition from the GOP. Whitehouse said petitions were circulated Wednesday to invoke cloture — effectively forcing votes — on McConnell and three other judicial nominees: Edward Chen for the Northern District Federal Court of California, Louis Butler for the Western District of Wisconsin, and Goodwin Liu for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in California.

But the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he has yet to file the cloture petitions — action that could start the clock ticking on McConnell and the other three nominees — and gave no indication of when that might happen.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/McCONNELL_VOTE_11-18-10_46L0NOK_v8.3c00375.html


I can't imagine that the Dems won't back down and roll over on this, they have had so much practice.

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1. Guys, ask your Senators to pressure Reid on this