Judicial nominations that don’t come up for confirmation in the calendar year in which they are made are automatically "extended" into the next year - unless a senator objects.
This year, all pending nominees were extended from 2005 into 2006 - except Brett Kavanaugh, the associate White House counsel who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. An anonymous Democratic senator objected to Kavanaugh’s extension. Many Senate Republicans are convinced it was Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.), who has obvious personal reasons for opposing Kavanaugh. He was an assistant to Independent Counsel Ken Starr, when Starr was investigating Bill and Hill’s Whitewater scandal. Kavanaugh also co-authored the Starr Report, which the prosecutor handed over to the House Judiciary Committee so it could commence impeachment proceedings against President Clinton.
Despite the objection of "Anonymous," President Bush re-nominated Kavanaugh last month. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) supports Kavanaugh's confirmation and is expected to move it out of committee to the Senate floor soon. The only way Hillary can stop it then is with a filibuster that could trigger Republican use of the constitutional option, paving the way for Bush to appoint the next Supreme Court justice without having to face the threat of a Democratic filibuster.
