Bench warfare
Judge Terrence Boyle's former law clerks have launched a dubious defense of the embattled Bush nominee. Will their tactics backfire on Bill Frist and the White House?
Editor's note: This report is part of an ongoing series by Salon and the Center for Investigative Reporting scrutinizing the records of Bush judicial nominees. Read the rest of the series here.
By Will Evans
(Photo by AP/Dennis Cook)
Judge Terrence Boyle appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3, 2005.
With an eye on congressional elections this November, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist signaled last month that he was itching for a fight, pledging floor votes in the Senate for some of President Bush's most controversial judicial nominees. Republicans would strategically welcome renewed partisan warfare over judges, it appeared, because it could help rally right-wing voters to the polls in November.
Longtime federal district Judge Terrence W. Boyle of North Carolina, for years opposed by Democrats as an enemy of civil rights, was one of Frist's top two picks to get the showdown started this month. But new revelations of ethics violations committed by Boyle have left his nomination to one of the nation's most powerful courts hanging in doubt, and Senate Republicans backpedaling. Frist has yet to schedule Boyle for a vote, but the right-wing base is already demanding action.
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