Unacceptable obstruction

IU law professor Dawn Johnsen was supposed to be confirmed by Congress to head President Barack Obama’s Office of Legal Council almost a year ago.

Instead, her confirmation process has stalled. Since she was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has been reluctant to try to force a vote because a supermajority of 60 senators is required to end debate.

So far, 57 Democrats and Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar are in support of Johnsen’s confirmation.

In theory, judicial confirmations are only supposed to require a simple majority. But because Republicans have threatened a filibuster, Johnsen’s confirmation is two votes short of the 60 needed to gain a supermajority and end debate.

This is a common pattern with presidential appointees that seems to get worse with every administration, and it needs to stop.

Most of the concern over Johnsen’s appointment relates to her former position as director for NARAL Pro-Choice America and her strong stance against Bush torture policies.

Thirty-one Republican state senators even asked Lugar and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., to oppose Johnsen’s nomination on the basis of her pro-choice views.

As this editorial board has argued before, a closer examination of Johnsen reveals a figure much more moderate than the controversy would suggest.

Johnsen’s pro-choice stances support current law, and she has affirmed that the United States has the right to hold enemies until hostilities end under the laws of armed conflict.

The Office of Legal Council is, among other things, responsible for briefing the president on constitutional questions, including the constitutionality of pending legislation. That office should have leader a year into a president’s term.

But many other appointees should have been confirmed by now or confirmed faster.
Kathleen Sebelius, the new secretary of Health and Human Services, had a lengthy confirmation process that made coping with the swine flu outbreak difficult. Lugar recently expressed frustration with a hold that had been put in place on the confirmation of the next U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

Positions both large and small need to be filled in a much timelier fashion.
Our senators should certainly be critical of any nominee they are asked to confirm. But it is time more nominees got an up or down vote.