It is a fact of American political life, that a party's view of the proper division of power .
among the branches of government depends on which branches it controls. In the article, "Of .
Judges and Senators written by Ramesh Ponnuru, he points three things: one constant position.
in government, Clinton's judges, and Clinton's litmus test and Bush's no pro-Roelitmus test. .
There is one constant position in government: whatever position is adopted will be .
defended in the most high-flown terms of principal. The Congressmen will try to block a .
president from getting in the way of the other party. This guards Congress's place in the.
constitutional order. A political choice soon becomes constitutional duty. As Meg Greenfield.
once said, in debates of this kind the politicians seem to be saying, Don't blame me, Alexander .
Hamilton made me do it. There again, the political choice becomes a constitutional duty. .
It has been said, that the Republicans weren't very hard on Clinton's judges. Clinton got .
377 federal judges confirmed. Almost the same as Reagan. There were only two of Clinton's .
judges nominated: Ronnie White and Frederica Massiah-Jackson. White was defeated on the .
Senate floor. Massiah-Jackson withdrew her nomination. Both were not elected because of their .
record with law-and-order cases. Although Clinton did have a lot of nominations, the .
Republicans did delay action on a lot of this nominees. They said that the federal judiciary was.
not understaffed and was not an urgent matter. Almost half of the federal judges today were .
appointed by Clinton. .
Clinton announced a litmus test for his nominees in 1992. A senator who took seriously .
this oath of office, should not have confirmed any of Clinton's judicial nominees. Bush's no pro-.
Roelitmus test is a basis for Democratic opposition: senators have suggested they will not vote .
for a judicial nominee unless he pledges to support Roe.