Regular readers know we’ve been following the nomination of Dawn Johnsen pretty closely. Johnsen is President Obama’s choice to head the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel and her appointment has sent the right into conniptions for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, her writings on abortion and her criticisms of the Bush administration’s Justice Department. Senate Republicans have even hinted at the possibility of filibustering her confirmation vote.
Two of the leading indicators on this front are the fact that a date has not been set for the nomination to be debated and voted on, and that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has not yet determined whether he’ll support a filibuster (Johnsen’s nomination cleared the committee on a party line vote from which Specter abstained).
Congressional Quarterly has an update from Specter, though, and the update is that…there is no update.
Specter said yesterday that a filibuster is still “under consideration.”
I’ve put in a call to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office to see if any progress has been made on the other front now that Congress is back from a two-week recess.
Unaddressed in the CQ report is the fact that Specter is facing a primary challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, and as a result has been somewhat awkwardly guarding his right flank for months. For instance, weeks after he voted in favor of the stimulus spending bill, he turned on a dime and decided to support a stimulus-reversing spending freeze, and nearly a month ago he announced that he would vote against the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill which he once cosponsored.
Late update: Reid’s office confirms that a date still has not been set for a debate and vote on Johnsen’s nomination.
