John E. Mulligan
The Providence Journal
3/18/2011
WASHINGTON — Amid indications that some Republicans remain strongly opposed to seating Providence lawyer John J. McConnell Jr. on Rhode Island’s federal court, senators on Thursday began formal consideration of his controversial nomination for the third time.
McConnell’s nomination was on the agenda as the Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider candidates for the federal bench. Majority Democrats granted the request of Republicans to hold this and other nominations until they appear on the agenda for a second time, so McConnell’s nomination may get a committee vote as early as the week of March 28.
Meanwhile, however, the committee’s ranking Republican has indicated that McConnell is still a hard sell with him and perhaps other GOP colleagues. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in an interview Tuesday, “I don’t think a lot has changed” since 2010, when McConnell’s nomination was twice returned to the White House because of Republican opposition.
McConnell has been a leading financial contributor to Democratic campaigns, an outspoken partisan and a nationally known plaintiffs attorney in lawsuits against the makers of such products as tobacco and lead paint. Republicans have charged that his predispositions against business and the GOP are so strong that he could not serve as a dispassionate jurist.
His supporters, including Rhode Island Democratic Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, argue that McConnell is a lawyer of high intelligence and integrity who would put aside his partisan views and become an impartial judge…
The article continues at The Providence Journal
H/T GTF
