The first judicial nomination of the Obama Administration was notable on several fronts. Whether it predicts the future is another matter.
Back in May of 2001, then President George W. Bush unveiled his first judicial nominees, and immediately was in hand-to-hand combat with Democrats in the Congress.
Several of the appeals court choices made by Mr. Bush were very conservative, and drew very strong opposition from Democrats.
The signal sent by this first nomination of President Barack Obama is that he didn't want controversy at the start, as he chose someone described as a "moderate" federal judge from Indiana to fill a vacancy on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Now while I've seen descriptions of Judge David Hamilton as a moderate, you don't have to go far to detect some rumblings from conservatives who do not agree.
My colleague David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network wrote Tuesday that Hamilton might get knocked around on the issue of prayer, as he ruled the Indiana House of Representatives was not allowed to include prayers that included the name of Jesus.
Okay, so after reading that, maybe this won't be an easy first nominee, eh?
(The Seventh Circuit later overturned the ruling. Hamilton, ironically, is the son of a United Methodist minister.)
Another way that the initial Obama judicial nomination was different from the past was the timing. The last administration made its first choices on May 9th.
Bill Clinton and the first George Bush didn't make nominations until August of their first year in office. Ronald Reagan held off until July.
Obama gets his first nominee to the Senate in March.
We will see if more follow anytime soon.
As for the confirmation process, I would expect Republicans to do all they can to stop certain Obama nominees, absolutely.
Just as the Democrats went after nominees they thought were too far to the Right, the GOP will go after selections that they believe are too far to the Left.
Will we have a repeat of the parliamentary battles that marked the Bush years? As of now, my answer would be no, since Democrats have such a strong majority right now.
Yes, they would still need Republican help to stop a filibuster and get 60 votes, so nothing is assured.
Right now, they already have a GOP Senator supporting the Hamilton nomination, as home state Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana is on board with the choice, providing bi-partisan cover right off the bat.
That may not be the case with other nominations obviously.
And if there is a Supreme Court nominee later this year, all bets are off.
The crazy fact about the Supreme Court right now is that Democratic Presidents have nominated only two justices in the last 41 years.
But we'll wait to use those facts until there is actually a vacancy on the High Court.
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