It is pretty bizarre, not to mention disingenuous, for U.S. senators to oppose a federal judicial nominee because he is too qualified. But that’s exactly what Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin are doing to Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, nominated last fall to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Rod Rosenstein is doing a good job as the U.S. attorney in Maryland and that’s where we need him,” the senators said in a joint statement last Nov. 16. “He plays a vital role in fighting crime and protecting our communities in Maryland.” Therefore, they said, they will block Rosenstein’s judicial nomination. But by that logic, Cardin should not have been elected to the Senate in 2006 because he was doing such a good job in the House of Representatives. Equally ludicrous is the senators’ only other stated reason for opposing Rosenstein’s nomination, which is that his roots in the Maryland legal community aren’t deep enough. In fact, Rosenstein has been inMaryland since 1997, in legal public service the entire time. And the Senate unanimously approved him as Maryland’s U.S. attorney in 2005, with Mikulski’s support.
By all accounts, Rosenstein is a superb nominee. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Rosenstein clerked for federal appeals court Judge Douglas Ginsburg and worked in various Justice Department posts in the administrations of three presidents — both Bushes and Bill Clinton — earning rave reviews from his superiors of both parties. Once President Bush nominated Rosenstein for this judgeship, the review committee of the American Bar Association unanimously gave the nominee its highest rating, “well qualified.” This seat on the 4th Circuit, unofficially reserved for Maryland, has been vacant for an inexcusable seven years due to Democratic obstructionism, and officially has been designated a “judicial emergency” because of a backlog of cases waiting to be heard.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has said he will not allow hearings for nominees without the support of their home-state senators. In this case, however, Maryland’s two senators have offered nothing but praise for Rosenstein himself — because his qualifications, integrity, record and judgment are all impeccable. It is nothing but partisan vindictiveness, then, that keeps Sens. Mikulski and Cardin from giving their assent. Vindictiveness is not an acceptable reason to block a qualified nominee.
