George W. Bush's nuclear test

The White House prepares to send a slew of new judicial nominees to the Senate. Consultation with Democrats? Not yet, anyway.

Tim Grieve

Jun 3, 2005 | We've been saying that the first big test of the nuclear option-averting agreement by John McCain's "Gang of 14" would come as soon as Chief Justice William Rehnquist announces his resignation and George W. Bush nominates a replacement. But now it seems that it could come even sooner than that.

According to this morning's Washington Post, the White House is preparing to send several dozen new lower court nominees up to the Senate any day now. Officials "familiar with the process" tell the Post that the judges Bush will nominate soon are a lot like the ones he's nominated before.

And although the "Gang of 14" agreement called on Bush to consult with senators on both sides of the aisle before making future nominations, Senate Democrats tell the Post that they haven't heard anything from the White House about the new nominees. As we noted earlier this week, they probably shouldn't bother waiting by their phones.

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