_4th Circuit: Terrence W. Boyle and William James Haynes II.

_5th Circuit: Priscilla Richman Owen.

_6th Circuit: David W. McKeague, Susan Bieke Neilson, Henry W. Saad, and Richard A. Griffin;

_9th Circuit: William Gerry Myers III.

_11th Circuit: William H. Pryor, who received a recess appointment from Bush after Democrats blocked his nomination. That appointment expires at the end of this year.

_District of Columbia Circuit: Janice Rogers Brown, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Thomas B. Griffith.

Reaction:

• Sen. minority leader Harry Reid: (via email): “The President is at it again with the extremist judges. "

• Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass:

"The president looks like he is still more interested in picking fights than picking judges," Kennedy said. "The last thing the federal courts need is reactionary judges bent on rolling back basic constitutional rights."

• Think Progress (American Progress Report):

“Thomas B. Griffith, President Bush’s nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law in Utah without a state law license for the past four years, according to Utah state officials.” - Washington Post, 6/21/04

• People for the American Way:

This slate of nominees demonstrates that the President and his team want to pack the federal courts with right-wing ideologues. In fact, the republican leadership may use one of these nominations to trigger the ‘nuclear option,’ and eliminate the last check and balance in the Senate for opposing ultra-conservative nominees who are out of step with mainstream Americans on both sides of the political aisle. And if the nuclear option succeeds now over a lower court nominee, when few Americans are paying attention, it will be too late to do anything about it when a Supreme Court vacancy occurs.

PFAW has a detailed analysis of the records of the most troubling nominees.

Now comes the battle over the "nuclear option" where the Repbulicans try to end the Democrat's filibuster power. They don't want to acknowledge that the role of the Senate in "advise and consent" doesn't mean roll over like a dog or lay still like a doormat and take it.

More later.