President Bush Will Renominate 20 Pro-Life Judges, Democrat Fight Looms

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Bush will renominate twenty pro-life judges for key federal court positions a White House spokesman announced Thursday. The decision sets the stage for a fierce debate with Senate Democrats over abortion. Senate Democrats frequently used filibusters to block judges they opposed based on their abortion views, including ten nominees to federal appeals courts. With several election victories producing a Republican controlled Senate by a 55-45 margin, Bush is ready to relaunch those battles with the hopes that he can find 60 votes to stop filibusters. "The Senate has a constitutional obligation to vote up or down on a president's judicial nominees,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a written statement. "The president nominated highly qualified individuals to the federal courts during his first term, but the Senate failed to vote on many nominations,'' McClellan added. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who has a mixed record on abortion, said he was disturbed to hear of the renominations. "I was extremely disappointed to learn today that the president intends to begin the new Congress by resubmitting extremist judicial nominees,'' Reid said in a statement. Though he has a larger majority, a mostly unified Democratic Party could still block the nominees. Knowing that, Senate Republican leaders are considering several ideas to push through the judicial picks on a majority basis -- including rewriting Senate rules to disallow filibusters on judicial confirmation votes. Read the complete story.