Editorial: Approve justices on merit

Sunday, July 23, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

We are pleased that the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee approved U.S. District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson of Las Vegas for a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The full Senate is expected to vote on her nomination later this week. Her sterling judicial record ought to make that decision a slam dunk in her favor.

Republican U.S. senators have had a flimsy record when it comes to approving President Clinton's nominees for federal judgeships. We complained about this two years ago when we wrote that GOP delaying tactics had left nearly 10 percent of our federal court positions vacant. Justice cannot be served when litigation is bottled up because of partisanship in the nation's capital.

We would like to think that Rawlinson has made it this far into the nomination process based solely on her qualifications. Unfortunately for Rawlinson, who is black, the issue of alleged racism by Senate Republicans is overshadowing her nomination.

Sun reporter Benjamin Grove reminded us in a story that Clinton had criticized Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for blocking minority nominees to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court. The Congressional Black Caucus says it takes about two months longer than average for black nominees to be approved and about 65 days longer for women than men to go through the process.

In response to such allegations, Senate Republicans have defended themselves in part by stating that they have acted as swiftly as possible in their approval of Rawlinson. We still believe Republican senators have a lot of explaining to do. So far we have not heard any satisfactory responses from the GOP to the allegations that they are too slow when it comes to approving black and female judicial nominees.

We would hate to think that judicial nominations are being slowed up by racism and sexism. Congress needs to move beyond such distractions and approve nominees based solely on merit.

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