Hutchison and Cornyn get hands slapped on appointments

Aspiring Texas U.S. attorneys and U.S. district judges had plenty of grounds for confusion recently, as the two Republican U.S. senators from Texas have claimed they will be screening candidates for the Democratic White House to consider. Not so, says U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who reconfirmed with the White House that Texas Democratic congressional delegation will be doing the choosing of names. Doggett met with White House Counsel Greg Craig in February and yesterday to establish and re-establish the protocol. And it’s this: the Texas Democratic congressional delegation, which he chairs, does the choosing of candidates, not the Republican senators. Send your applications to Doggett, not to the senators. And the White House released a statement today indicating as much: “The White House supports the Texas Democratic delegation’s established process for reviewing and submitting candidates. Individuals seeking these positions should utilize this process to ensure full consideration by the White House. The President of the United States will make the final decision as to who will be nominated and sent to the Senate for confirmation. No federal judge, U.S. Attorney or U.S. Marshal will be nominated by the President, however, unless that person has the confirmed support of the Texas Democratic delegation.  The Texas U.S. Senators will be accorded a full opportunity to share their views about each candidate whom the President proposes to nominate.” Doggett says the statement was issued after The Dallas Morning News reported that Texas U.S. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn said they had an arrangement with the White House that the senators would send the names. Last week, Hutchison and Cornyn announced a March 27 deadline for U.S. attorney candidates to send in applications to their office. “Some folks were confused about where they should apply. We thought there was a need for an authoritative statement,” Doggett says. Doggett says the Democratic delegation has finished its review of candidates for the four U.S. attorney positions in Texas but has not started reviewing candidates for U.S. district judge or U.S. marshal positions. “I basically have talked to the White House about people who would be best for those jobs, but we’re not releasing names,” Doggett says.
 -- John Council