Senate panel approves Rawlinson

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved Johnnie Rawlinson for a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trotting out the U.S. District Court judge as an example that Senate Republicans are not racists.

The Las Vegan faces a final hurdle: a full Senate vote, expected next week.

Committee Republicans used the nomination meeting to blast back at President Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus, who allege Senate leaders are acting with prejudice in approving federal judges.

Committee chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the charges were "malicious, offensive" and "ridiculous."

"I'm not going to put up with any more crap around here," Hatch said, in a unusually colorful comment from the lawmaker.

President Clinton criticized Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for blocking minority nominees to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court for years. Black caucus members on Wednesday said the Senate has approved fewer minority nominees than white males. They said the confirmation process takes two months longer for black nominees and men are approved 65 days faster than women.

"I am saddened to make these accusations, but I will make them," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said. "The United States Senate has acted racistly and with sexism."

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., on a Sunday talk show used Rawlinson, who is black, as armor to fend off racism charges.

Today Republican Sens. Jon Kyl, Ariz., and Robert Smith, N.H., noted it took only about five months to move Rawlinson through the confirmation process.

Smith then fired a question at ranking committee Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont: How is that racist?

"I'm not suggesting it is," said Leahy, who stressed that in general, minority and female nominees take longer to approve.

"Whenever there are charges of racism against the Senate, I think that we all have an obligation to speak up and defend the body and defend the members," Kyl said.

The committee then approved Rawlinson on a voice vote. Rawlinson has said she will decline comment until she is officially confirmed.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., nominated Rawlinson, who is currently a U.S. District Court judge for Nevada. Reid said it was Rawlinson's qualifications that won her committee approval, not good timing that coincided with allegations of racism being leveled at Senate Republicans.

"She combines being a woman and minority with a great legal background, in addition to being one of the finest people you would ever want to meet," Reid said today. "She deserves it. I'm not going to get into all this other stuff."

Reid, who acts as Minority Whip, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, aggressively lobbied for Rawlinson, vouching for her personally, said Elliot Mincberg of the People for the American Way, a citizens group that tracks judicial issues. Reid's behind-the-scenes politicking may have had more to do with Rawlinson's nomination than anything, Mincberg said.

"There's no question that women and minorities have been moved to the back of the bus, especially in the last few years," Mincberg said.

Mincberg noted that women and minority nominees face a longer road for a number of reasons. Women and minorities are frequently assumed to be more liberal, which puts off the Republican-controlled Senate, Mincberg said. They also tend to have fewer powerful connections in the Senate. Interest groups lobbying senators also can slow a nomination.

"The net result is that it is true as a matter of statistics, and in looking at individual nominees, female and minorities tend to take longer to move through," Mincberg said.