For Law Day, the National Law Journal publishes its list of judges around the country who are alleged to have acted injudiciuously or incomprehensibly.

Bump and Update: Jeffrey Sutton has been confirmed by a vote of 52 to 41. PFAW emails a press release:

"One more appeals court vacancy has been filled with a judge who can spend the rest of his life trying to turn back the clock on Americans' rights, liberties, and legal protections," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way. "Today the Senate failed in its obligation to protect Americans from a federal judiciary dominated by right-wing ideologues. But senators will have many more opportunities to take a stand, because the Bush administration continues to nominate judges who are not committed to preserving the protections of our Constitution."

Senator Edward Kennedy said Monday, "Jeff Sutton "has been the most visible advocate in the right-wing movement to weaken the basic civil rights that have bought our country closer to equal opportunity for all citizens."

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A final vote is scheduled Tuesday in the Senate over Bush judicial nominee Jeffrey Sutton, whom many decry as a judicial activist. However, Ted Kennedy is quoted as saying that he thinks the vote will go Sutton's way, so it's probably a done deal.

For more on Sutton and objections to him, visit PFAW and ADAWatch.

President Bush Monday named 15 more nominees to fill judicial vacancies. Feminists are blasting Bush's choices of women nominees, saying they are "nothing but Scalia in a skirt."

Visit People for the American Way for more on the judicial nominees, and Civil Rights.Org for a primer on how our civil rights and constitutional freedoms are at risk due to Bush's court-packing scheme.

Congrats to Sam Heldman of Ignatz for being mentioned as a prime critic of Bush judicial nominee William Pryor in the Birmingham News:

Sam Heldman, a Washington attorney, argues Pryor's federalism is driven by politics and inconsistently applied. For example, his written argument in the presidential election contest of 2000 was that the decision denying Bush's request to block the manual recounting of ballots should be overturned.

"One might think that a true believer in what is now called `federalism' ... would likely take the position that election-law matters should be left up to the states rather than to federal judges," Heldman writes in his ongoing Internet critique of Pryor's record.

Heldman, who lost two high-profile cases to Pryor regarding an election dispute and the racial makeup of the state's appellate courts, said his Web log postings about the nominee are the early stages of a public discourse that will only intensify when the confirmation hearing is scheduled.

"But I hope it's carried out at a sensible level rather than just the hot buttons of is he for or against abortion or the Ten Commandments," Heldman said.

[link via Demagogue]

The New York Times Friday comes out in support of a filibuster of Bush judicial pick Priscilla Owen:

Filibustering Judge Owen's confirmation would send the Bush administration two important messages: the president must stop packing the courts with ideologues, and he must show more respect for the Senate's role.

Bush's most recent nominations are drawing strong criticism --and not just from liberals or democrats. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) is leading a move to delay the confirmation of James Leon Holmes who is up for a seat on the U.S. District Court in Arkansas. The New York Times reports Holmes is the former president of Arkansas Right to Life. But it is his writings that have come under fire.

One example the Democrats cited was a 1997 article that Dr. Holmes and his wife, Susan, wrote for a newspaper, Arkansas Catholic, about men, women and Roman Catholicism. The article said that "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband" and that "the woman is to place herself under the authority of the man" in the same way that "the church is to place herself under the protection of Christ." The same article went on to say, "It is not a coincidence that the feminist movement brought with it artificial contraception and abortion on demand, with recognition of homosexual liaisons soon to follow."

The second nominee facing criticism today is William Pryor of Alabama, up for a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Washington Post, which has previously supported most of Bush's picks, has this to say today about Pryor in an editorial, Unfit to Judge:

Mr. Pryor is probably best known as a zealous advocate of relaxing the wall between church and state. He teamed up with one of Pat Robertson's organizations in a court effort to defend student-led prayer in public schools, and he has vocally defended Alabama's chief justice, who has insisted on displaying the Ten Commandments in state court facilities. But his career is broader. He has urged the repeal of a key section of the Votings Rights Act, which he regards as "an affront to federalism and an expensive burden." He has also called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." Whatever one thinks of Roe, it is offensive to rank it among the court's most notorious cases, which include Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson, after all.

You can read more about Pryor in today's Fulton County Daily Report, here.

Atrios has the update on Bush judicial nominee Priscilla Owen and it's good news. He also has some bad news about a new right-wing nominee.

We received an email earlier that there will be a Senate hearing this afternoon on nominee Jeffrey Sutton, who is strongly opposed for his positions on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Senate Republicans failed for the fourth time today to limit debate (invoke cloture) on the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Dems are holding the line. The vote was 55 to 44, with 3/5 needed to prevail. Here's the roll call vote. [link via Jurist's Paper Chase.]

The Senate Judiciary Committee today voted on a party line, 10 to 9, to approve Texas Judge Priscilla Owen's Nomination to the Fifth Circuit. She still faces a confirmation hearing in the full Senate.

Democrats contend Owen, nominated by President Bush, is an anti-abortion and pro-business judicial activist whose opinions and rulings have been overly influenced by her personal beliefs.... It continues to be clear that Justice Owen is one of the most frequent dissenters on her court in Texas in cases involving workers, consumers, and victims of discrimination," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a written statement.

People for the American Way have lots more.

The House Judiciary Committee is considering voting on an unprecedented resolution that will allow it to subpoena a sitting federal judge and force him to locate and produce information regarding his sentencing decisions. In response to this crisis, Milton Hirsch, Chair of the Judicial Relations Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) prepared the following resolution, which has been adopted by the organization.

RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OPPOSING CONGRESSIONAL ATTACKS ON JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE WHEREAS the Hon. James M. Rosenbaum is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota; and

California Governor Gray Davis is shaking up the California judiciary. He is appointing a greater percentage of gays, women and minorities than any other governor in California history.

The Senate filibuster holds over the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada. The 55-45 vote today marked " the first time in the Senate's history that three votes to move to the confirmation of a president's nominee had failed on the Senate floor."