Upon returning from a two-week congressional recess, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) plans to move forward with votes on seven judicial nominees.
Specter's committee plans to start voting on the nominees on April 7 with appellate court nominee Thomas Griffith and district court nominees Robert Conrad and James Dever III. On April 14, the committee plans to vote on appellate court nominees Terrence Boyle and Priscilla Owen, and finally, on April 21, it will vote on appellate court nominees William Pryor and Janice Rogers Brown. (Specter is allowing Owen, Brown and Pryor to proceed without rehearings against Democrats' wishes.) If all goes as planned, Majority Leader Frist will finally be in position to bring a nominee to a floor vote-only two months later than he vowed when this Congress convened.
