Senate committee votes narrowly to advance Gonzales nomination
Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 08:12PM
TheSpook
A divided Senate Judiciary
Committee voted Wednesday to advance Alberto Gonzales' nomination as
attorney general to the full Senate as committee Democrats registered
unified opposition and threatened extensive debate on the Senate floor.
Although senators from both parties predicted that the former Texas
supreme court justice and confidant of President Bush will win Senate
confirmation, the outpouring of Democratic dissent wrecked White House
hopes that Gonzales will head into the Justice Department post with
strong bipartisan support. Senior Democrats initially signaled support
for Gonzales, who has served as White House counsel the past four
years, but turned away from the nominee because of his involvement in
shaping administration policies that critics say relaxed safeguards
against prisoner abuses and torture in Iraq and elsewhere. "To let his
nomination proceed would make a mockery of the notion of congressional
oversight and accountability," declared Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., echoing fellow Democrats' assertions that Gonzales is
ill-suited to serve as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. The
final vote was 10-8. [more]
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