Ensign forced to give Bush second list of judge picks

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, May 22, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The White House today received a new list of potential federal judge nominees from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., after Bush administration officials rejected Ensign's first list of four candidates, a source told the Sun today.

Bush administration officials apparently were not impressed with the first four names Ensign sent to the White House earlier this month.

A federal judge job is opening later this year in Nevada, and presidents rely on senators to recommend candidates for appointment for those types of openings.

Republican leaders quietly questioned Ensign's first list because it included 35-year-old Leif Reid, a Reno lawyer and son of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Senate GOP leaders view Sen. Reid as part of Democratic-led blockade of two GOP judicial nominees, Washington lawyer Miguel Estrada and Texas judge Priscilla Owens.

Harry and Leif Reid have declined comment, and Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said he and the senator were not going to discuss the issue.

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius also declined comment today.

Observers said it was rare that a president would ask a senator for a second list.

"It happens on occasion, but it is very, very unusual," said University of Massachusetts, Amherst, professor Sheldon Goldman, who monitors judicial nominations.

Goldman said the White House likely would not reject a list of four candidates just because it didn't like one of the names.

"There's probably something going on here that we don't know about," Goldman said.

During the eight-year Clinton administration, Reid recommended 11 people for federal jobs to the president. Clinton did not reject any of them and never asked for another name, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. Hafen noted that Clinton asked Democratic senators for a single name, not a list from which to choose.

The White House likely rejected Ensign's first list because it contained Leif Reid's name, said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

"It's payback for Sen. Reid in some way," Fitton said. He added, "It really is inappropriate for sons of sitting senators to be nominated for these high positions. Thirty-five is a bit young to be a federal judge."

News that the White House had asked Ensign for a second list was first reported this week in The Hill, a newspaper that covers congressional issues.

The White House is already considering at least one person -- Las Vegas lawyer Rick Pocker -- who wasn't on Ensign's first four-candidate list.

Pocker spoke to White House officials about the job on Friday in Washington, Pocker told the Sun this week. He declined further comment. Ensign also had no comment on Pocker, or on the four candidates on his first list.

Pocker, 48, a German-born resident of Las Vegas since 1985, was U.S. attorney for Nevada for nearly two years in 1989-1990, when Bush's father was in the White House. Among his clients at Dickerson, Dickerson, Consul and Pocker is the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

A judge is needed to fill the vacancy soon to be left by U.S. District Judge David Hagen of Reno, who plans to assume senior status later this year.

The top senator from the president's party has the privilege of recommending judicial nominees to the president. Presidential judicial nominees are subject to Senate confirmation.