"President
Barack Obama’s judicial appointments for Georgia and the region were drafted in
secret and not vetted by legal groups among the president’s supporters."
The Truth-O-Meter Says: Mostly True
It’s
said the wheels of justice move slowly. So, too, is the process of approving
the names of some judicial nominees.
The
tortoise-like pace of appointing judges to serve on two key courts has resulted
in rare public criticism of the Obama administration by some leading Georgia
Democrats and civil rights leaders.
One
such critic is U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Democrat who represents portions of
metro Atlanta.
"It
is an abomination that these nominees for lifetime appointment were drafted in
secret, not vetted by any legal groups among the president’s supporters,"
Scott wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who chairs the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Scott
and others, who’ve supported President Barack Obama on so many issues, felt blindsided
by the White House, particularly since the nominees were reportedly chosen
after consultation with Georgia’s two Republican senators.
We
wondered if the congressman’s claim was correct.
U.S.
District Court Judge Julie Carnes was the White House’s pick to serve on the
Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, joining pending 11th Circuit
nominee Jill Pryor, an Atlanta attorney.
To
fill four Northern District of Georgia slots, Obama nominated Atlanta attorney
Leigh Martin May, DeKalb County State Court Judge Eleanor Ross, Georgia Court
of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs and Atlanta attorney Mark Cohen.
The
critics say there’s not enough racial diversity among the nominees. They say
some nominees have previously sided against the interests of the civil rights
community.
The
Senate confirms presidential nominees, and the White House reportedly had
trouble getting some names past the two senators for nomination.
"I
don’t think (Obama) will nominate anyone without home-state senator
support," said Richmond College of Law professor Carl Tobias, who studies
the judicial nomination process and has paid close attention to what’s going on
in Georgia.
U.S.
Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss had held up Obama nominees for years,
until a deal struck several months ago finally broke the impasse, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution has reported. A spokeswoman for Chambliss declined
comment, referring us to a December statement by both senators thanking the
White House for its cooperation through the nomination process. The White House
press office and Isakson did not respond to requests for comment.
Scott’s
chief of staff, Michael Andel, explained that the White House did not discuss
the nominations with Georgia Democrats serving in Congress, which is why the congressman
described the process as secret. Andel said the White House did not run the
names by organizations that typically vet potential nominees, such as the
Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA) or the Gate City Bar
Association, a prominent African-American attorney group based in Atlanta.
Veteran
Atlanta attorney and former six-term congressman George "Buddy"
Darden chaired a 13-member committee in 2009 that was created by Georgia
Democrats in Congress to submit nominees to Obama to the federal bench. The
committee took input from GABWA and other groups, he said. A year later, the
AJC reported that none of the vacancies had been filled.
Why
not? Chambliss and Isakson weren’t thrilled with the names being submitted,
according to news accounts.
In
2013, after Obama’s re-election, Darden said the White House rebuffed their
efforts for a meeting. The White House worked with the two Georgia senators and
Kenneth S. Canfield, a major Obama donor and Atlanta attorney, according to
Darden and some news accounts.
"(The
White House) wouldn’t let the congressmen know what was happening," said
Darden, who served in Congress as a Democrat.
Canfield
declined comment.
Charles
S. Johnson III, a former president of the Gate City Bar Association, gave us a
detailed account of negotiations with the Obama administration. Negotiators met
with the White House in mid-2010, he said, and the Obama administration made
two nominations to fill vacancies on the North Georgia court. Chambliss and
Isakson, though, did not support the candidates, Johnson said.
In
August 2013, when rumors surfaced that a deal was in the works, the Gate City
Bar Association and other groups wrote Obama to complain they were being left
out, said Johnson, a partner at Holland & Knight, one of the most
influential law firms in Georgia.
The
White House met with some Georgia Democrats serving in Congress in October.
Andel said names of specific judicial nominees weren’t discussed at the
meeting. Johnson said his group and others tried, to no avail, to get a meeting
with Chambliss and Isakson.
"There
was no public process for vetting these nominations before they were announced,
unlike previous years, in which the president and the senators typically sought
input on judicial nominees from leaders and organizations in the community to
be affected," Johnson said via email. "I personally met with one of
the individuals who was rumored to be part of brokering this package deal. In
my meeting I specifically asked whether it would be possible to seek community
input regarding this package. I was told that there was no interest in seeking
community input, and that those involved in putting this deal together were
aware that the deal would draw significant community opposition."
Sarah
Binder, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, said the
White House has no formal process when it comes to judicial nominations. Some
states, she said, have commissions to vet candidates. Most will seek input from
the state’s U.S. senators.
Tobias
said he thinks Scott’s claim is correct, but he agreed the spoils of victory
for U.S. senators include having input on judicial nominations.
"It’s
not the best way to proceed, but it may be the only way to proceed,"
Tobias said.
To
sum up, Congressman Scott claimed he and other Georgia Democrats serving in
Congress were left in the dark when the White House came up with the names of
nominees to serve on two key benches. He also claimed groups who traditionally
support Obama weren’t in the loop as well.
This
was tough to fact-check because some key people and groups involved in the
process wouldn’t talk about it.
But
it appears Scott and the other Democrats weren’t consulted when the White House
came up with its nominees. While some groups weren’t consulted, it does appear
some Obama supporters did offer some input.
Our
rating: Mostly True.
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