Toomey, Dems battle — again — on judges

WASHINGTON – Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) added another wrinkle to his long-running battle with Democrats over federal judges, trying to advance two stalled Pennsylvania nominees Wednesday even as his rivals accuse him of obstruction.

Toomey's maneuver on the Senate floor came on the same day a Quinnipiac University poll suggested that the biggest judiciary fight – over President Obama's attempt to fill a Supreme Court vacancy – is taking a toll on the senator's re-election bid.

As Democrats hammer him on that issue, and Toomey accuses them of trying to score political points, the senator asked the Senate to call a confirmation vote on two long-stalled nominees to fill seats in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

But Democrats, led by Toomey's home state colleague, Democrat Bob Casey, had pushed just a day earlier to advance 11 pending judges, including the two from Pennsylvania. On Wednesday they said it would be unfair to vote on just the Keystone State nominees ahead of others who have waited even longer.

"How about we try a step in the right direction?" Toomey suggested on the Senate floor. "How about we vote on these two, two judges. Two of the 11. It's not the entire slate but it's not zero."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) opposed him, saying the delay for these judges and others was only due to a blockade imposed by GOP leaders, and that other courts also need vacancies filled. A series of objections blocked any action by either side.

Casey had railed against the inaction a day earlier, saying, "people in Pennsylvania and around the country are being denied access to basic justice because there aren't enough judges to hear cases.  It's time for Senate Republicans to end the games and do their job."

The issue is fraught for Toomey, who faces one of the toughest re-election battles in the country.

He had long promoted his work with Casey to advance federal judges as a sign of his willingness to work across the aisle, and with the Obama administration, to make government work.

But that argument has come under sharp attack, most notably because Toomey has joined the GOP fight against hearings or a vote for Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.

Toomey has said that this close to an election, voters should get a say in a nomination that could reshape the balance of the high court, and after meeting Garland last month questioned whether the judge would be a strong enough check on executive overreach.

Democrats fired back that those kind of concerns are exactly what would be vetted and debated at a public hearing. They have launched protests and ads claiming Toomey is failing to do his job, and the Quinnipiac poll found that 30 percent of Pennsylvania voters are more likely to oppose him this fall because of his stand, against 18 percent more likely to support him.

The Garland fight is just the most high-profile of several battles. Last year Democrats accused Toomey of stalling a Philadelphia district court judge, Luis Felipe Restrepo, nominated to move up to the 3d Circuit Court of Appeals – a charge Toomey strongly denied and chalked up to political opportunism.

Then, in March, Toomey accused the Obama administration of playing politics by nominating another Pennsylvania judge that the White House knew he found objectionable.

After Wednesday's scrap over floor motions the Senate lined up a vote on a pending Maryland judge, the first in the list of 11 that Democrats have highlighted.

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