Senate approves Lance for judicial position

MERIDIAN, Idaho – Al Lance, the former Republican state legislator and two-term attorney general who served as national commander of the American Legion, has finally been confirmed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Lance’s nomination, rumored in 2001 and formally made by President Bush more than two years ago, was unanimously approved by the Senate early Sunday in what were supposed to be the final moments of the lame-duck session. But lawmakers may return next month now to work out a new deal on overhauling the intelligence community.

“I wasn’t at all sure whether this would happen at all,” Lance said from his law office on Monday after speaking with the court’s chief judge, Donald Ivers. “There’s a couple of more steps to take, but this was the biggest one. It’s a new adventure.”

Idaho’s senior Republican senator, Larry Craig, said there was no one better for the job of determining the validity of veterans’ disability claims than Lance, and fellow GOP Sen. Michael Crapo said Lance “has always been a strong advocate for our military veterans and has a great deal of expertise with veterans affairs.”

Technical procedures should be handled quickly, Lance said, and he could be on the bench by early next year. While he likely will move from Meridian, Lance still owns a farm in Payette County and said he will maintain his ties to the state.

Lance, 55, abandoned plans for a third term as attorney general in 2002 after it became clear as much as a year earlier that he would be nominated for the vacancy created by the retirement in 2000 of Frank Nebeker, a former federal appellate judge who served as the Veterans Claims Court’s first chief judge. He will complete the final 11 years left on Nebeker’s term.

He was formally nominated by President Bush in September 2002, only two years after completing his yearlong term as the American Legion’s national commander. But even with those credentials and the presumed sway Craig held as a ranking Republican in the Senate and a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, his nomination languished. Shortly after the nomination, Craig dropped out of a race for Republican whip, the number-two leadership role in the Senate.

Lance was renominated in January 2003 but again was caught up in the increasingly partisan and divisive atmosphere of the Senate. His confirmation was recommended by the Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Nov. 21, 2003, but then became tangled up in a dispute between the White House and Democratic Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia over an unrelated appointment.

Lance served as a member of the Idaho House for four years before winning the first of two four-year terms as attorney general in 1994.