Gorton Wants More Say In Nominations

Republican Sen. Slade Gorton is threatening to block President Clinton’s nominations of federal judges in Washington state unless “my advice has been sought in a timely manner and has been given significant weight.”

Traditionally, presidents rely on home-state senators from their own parties to suggest nominees or finalists for federal judgeships. The president then makes the nomination, subject to Senate ratification.

But home-state senators, especially from the majority party, also can hold up such appointments indefinitely. Republicans hold the majority in the U.S. Senate.

In a letter he hand-delivered Wednesday to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Gorton suggested that the nomination of Seattle lawyer M. Margaret McKeown to become a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals be “balanced” by the nomination of state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Durham to another vacancy on the 9th Circuit.