The Senate, and increasingly the nation, are poised for a showdown in the coming days over President Bush’s blocked judicial nominees. CIR reporters Noyes and Isaacson reveal how seven key nominees to the federal appeals courts are the most visible examples of a trend toward judicial nominees with anti-government perspectives and close ties to corporate interests.
Courting Influence, a 2004 CIR web report, on which this story is based, found that 21 of 59 federal judicial nominees during President Bush’s first term (all appeals court and court of federal claims nominees) had a history of working as lawyers and lobbyists on behalf of the oil, gas and energy industries.
As Rutgers University School of Law professor Jay Feinman told CIR, “Increasingly you will have federal courts with a pro-industry and anti-government perspective” if the Bush nominations are successful.
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