Judge's allies press for vote in Senate

WASHINGTON -- For U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, the next four weeks could make the difference in whether he can finally, after a tumultuous, yearslong battle, land a seat on the nation's second-highest court.

The U.S. Senate returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after its summer recess, but for just a month. There is scant time for the whirlwind surge of business that members want to complete so they can get home and defend their seats in the midterm elections.

Senate observers say no judicial nominee has waited longer for a floor vote in the U.S. Senate, and yet Boyle's chances -- hindered until now by controversy -- could rest on the political winds whipping through Washington.

With such a tight schedule, a divisive floor battle on a Court of Appeals nominee might not make the Senate's priority list.

Or, a Boyle vote could be propelled to the top of the agenda to galvanize conservative voters in a year already proving dicey for the GOP.

Caught in the middle is Boyle, a U.S. District judge from Edenton, N.C., who represents the state's Eastern District. President Bush has nominated Boyle to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, one level below the U.S. Supreme Court.

If Republicans lose control of the Senate in November, confirming Boyle will be even tougher, said Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"This may be their last bite at the apple for nominations like Boyle's," Ornstein said. "But it sure seems to me this is not likely to go forward without a big controversy."

While Boyle goes about the business of overseeing court in North Carolina, his supporters are scrambling behind the scenes to force some action in the Senate.

Conservative groups have spent the summer unleashing news releases about Boyle, talking him up on radio shows and fueling the blogosphere. A cavalry of former Boyle clerks has begun letter-writing campaigns and made more than 30 trips to Capitol Hill on Boyle's behalf.

The White House is expected to be bending ears in the Senate. A spokeswoman for Bush said the president wants to see Boyle confirmed "as soon as the Senate reconvenes."

And Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who has been criticized by some conservatives for not doing enough, said she works on Boyle's case "each and every day."

"Certainly I would hope we would be able to get a vote in September," said Dole, a Salisbury Republican. "I just hope the Senate will do the right thing and confirm him."

Dole said she talks consistently with Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who decides which issues come to a vote on the floor.

Dole also has talked with members of the so-called Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of moderate senators often seen as swing votes on judicial nominees, and says she is finding "growing and considerable support" among that group.

Chris Oprison, a former Boyle clerk and corporate lawyer in Washington, has spent hours meeting with staff members in key Senate offices this summer.

"I think we're on the cusp of getting him a vote," he said.

Boyle was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2005 but the matter has languished on the Senate floor ever since, in what is thought to be a record lapse for a federal judicial nominee.

Boyle's nomination hit another bump this spring, when an online magazine pointed out that Boyle owned stocks in a handful of companies with cases before him. Boyle has called the incidents mistakes and said his decisions were not influenced by his holdings.

Boyle's lengthy record as a judge does not easily fit under normal political labels such as conservative or liberal. Some Democrats have opposed Boyle's nomination because of his record on civil rights and disability rights cases. Boyle, though, is respected by environmentalists and by many of the lawyers -- Democrats and Republicans -- who practice before him. He has the support of the American Bar Association.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada finds Boyle "unacceptable," a spokeswoman said, and many observers think Reid would force a filibuster, a procedure used to block floor votes.

If that happened, Frist would need 60 votes to end the filibuster.

Elliot Mincberg, a legal analyst for the liberal group People for the American Way, said the next moves are up to the Republicans.

"We are not interested in a fight," Mincberg said. "But if the effort is made to push this nomination, we feel we have no choice but to oppose it."

Dole, North Carolina's senior senator, could have some interest in a political fight. As chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign, she is in charge of keeping the Senate in GOP hands this November.

But asked whether Republicans would benefit from a partisan battle on Boyle, Dole said she wants chiefly to see Boyle confirmed.

"Look, Terry has been through an awful lot," Dole said. "The primary goal is to see that he gets confirmed and the job gets done."