Sandoval judgeship may be delayed

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Senate action this year on the nomination of Attorney General Brian Sandoval, tapped to be a federal judge, is in question now that Congress is dealing with a revised agenda, topped by a massive hurricane recovery and two Supreme Court vacancies.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds hearings and votes on judicial nominations, has a busier autumn than it expected. It is the midst of its high-profile grilling of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts this week, and will have another nominee to consider when President Bush names a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

It's difficult to say which of the lower-tier nominations the panel will act on this year, Senate Judiciary spokesman Blain Rethmeier said.

"It's not a still-likely or a less-likely thing," he said. "It just depends on how everything works out."

President Bush nominated Sandoval March 1 to be a U.S. District Court judge in Nevada, and he is likely to be approved. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is still "hopeful" that the Senate could vote on Sandoval this year, spokesman Jack Finn said.

But Finn said, "Everything is on hold right now with (Hurricane) Katrina and Roberts. It's so difficult to say with everything that is going on."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Tuesday said action on Sandoval was still possible. "We're doing our best to push him through," Reid said.

Sandoval has not heard from Judiciary Committee staff about whether the panel would hold a hearing on his nomination this year, Sandoval spokeswoman Nicole Moon said.

"He's not expecting to hear anything until the Supreme Court nominations are over and done with," she said.

Sandoval is one of 27 district court vacancies the Senate must fill. The Senate also faces 17 Circuit Court -- federal appeals court -- vacancies.