New York Times
July 21, 2001
Senators Confirm 3 Judges, Including Once-Stalled Black
By ALISON MITCHELL
WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed federal judges today for the first time since the Democrats took control in May, including Roger Gregory, who was initially named to the bench by President Bill Clinton in a recess appointment after the Republican-run Senate stalled his nomination.
Mr. Gregory, who was approved 94 to 1, is the first black judge to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican leader, cast the lone vote against him.
Blacks make up 22 percent of the circuit's population, a figure higher than in any other federal jurisdiction. Mr. Clinton nominated four black judges to the Fourth Circuit but not one was granted a hearing. Mr. Gregory, a corporate lawyer in Richmond, Va., was nominated in June 2000.
Before leaving office, Mr. Clinton angered some Republicans by giving Mr. Gregory a temporary appointment to the court after the Senate adjourned for the year. Such a recess appointee is allowed to serve just one year. President Bush — whose attorney general, John Ashcroft, came under fire in his nominations hearings for blocking a black nominee for the federal court — renominated Mr. Gregory for a lifetime appointment in May.
"This makes a statement, I think, that is very important," Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the majority leader, said today in praising both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush.
Virginia's two senators, John W. Warner and George F. Allen, both Republicans, called for Mr. Gregory's approval today, with Mr. Warner saying, "We are at a historic moment here with Judge Gregory."
Mr. Allen said Mr. Gregory, who had been the first person in his family to finish high school, had an "inspirational story" and a "proper judicial philosophy." He asked fellow Republicans not to view the nominee "based upon the former president's political manipulations."
Ronald D. Bonjean Jr., a spokesman for Mr. Lott, said Mr. Lott's opposition to Mr. Gregory was "an institutional decision" designed to protect Senate prerogatives and underscore his stance that "any appointment of federal judges during a recess should be opposed."
The Senate today also confirmed two other Bush nominees, Sam Haddon and Richard Cebull, as federal district judges in Montana.
The confirmation of federal judges and the ideological makeup of the courts has been a flash point between the two parties, and some of Mr. Bush's more conservative nominees are expected to have a rough time before a Democratic-led Senate.
Protesting that Democrats planned to block judges because of ideology, Republicans held up the full reorganization of the Senate under Democratic control for about a month late this spring in an effort to win a promise that all nominees for the Supreme Court would get a Senate floor vote, no matter how the Senate Judiciary Committee ruled on them.
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