Bush's Call for Vote on Judges Adds Urgency to Filibuster Battle

Some see Bush's full-throttle push for judges as part of a broader strategy to strengthen the power of the presidency, which Vice President Cheney and others have argued has been weakened in recent decades by a more assertive Congress.

Edwards, a former member of the House GOP leadership, said: "Every president grabs for more power. What's different to me is the acquiescence of Congress."

Although the president has vowed to stay out of the debate over whether the Senate should push the nuclear button, Bush as well as Cheney and Gonzales have intensified lobbying of late for up-or-down votes on judges, which are likely to happen only if the filibuster is eliminated.

"The Senate should give these extraordinary qualified nominees the up-or-down vote they deserve without further delay," Bush said yesterday.

At his news conference, Gonzales singled out for praise Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice who is a target of Democratic filibuster efforts. While serving alongside Owen in 2000, Gonzales wrote an opinion criticizing her and two other dissenting judges for "an unconscionable act of judicial activism" in seeking to restrict a minor's right to an abortion.

"Judges disagree from time to time on particular issues," Gonzales said yesterday. "That doesn't in any way detract from my view that she would make a terrific judge on the 5th Circuit. I've never accused her of being an activist judge."

On a day of nearly nonstop news conferences and speeches about judicial nominees, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) urged Frist to call a vote for Thomas Griffith, nominated by Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Griffith, who had practiced law in Utah without a license, has been controversial, but Reid said Democrats would not block his confirmation.

Frist's office replied that if Democrats are ready to vote on Griffith, they should be willing to vote on all the Bush nominees who have been filibustered and are under threat of filibuster again.

A few senators continued seeking a compromise to the judicial impasse. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has talked of a possible deal in which a few Republicans would agree to oppose the filibuster rule change if a few Democrats would support some of the seven long-stalled nominees. Spokesmen for Nelson and Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who is also seeking a compromise, said yesterday that no deal has been reached.

Staff writer Dan Eggen contributed to this report.