Senate confirms controversial judge to federal bench
Larry Margasak - Associated Press Writer - 11/19/2009 3:25:00 PM
Hamilton was approved on a 59-39 vote and became the eighth of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees to win confirmation. He is the third confirmed for a U.S. appeals court, which is usually the last stop for federal court cases.
Republican senators - backed by their conservative allies outside Congress - had blocked a vote for five months until Democrats overcame a filibuster last Tuesday with a 70-29 vote.
Republicans attacked Hamilton's rulings and his work in the distant past for two liberal organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union in Indiana; and as a fundraiser over two months for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, the troubled group that is under fire from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Both liberal groups set off raw emotions among conservative Republicans, but 10 GOP senators sided with 60 Democrats to end the filibuster. Nine of those Republicans voted against Hamilton on Thursday, leaving his home-state Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar, as his sole GOP backer. A number of senators frown on delaying tactics against a president's picks for the bench, even if the senators oppose a particular nominee.
The ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, criticized Hamilton's ruling against using prayers mentioning Jesus to open the Indiana legislature.
"This judge is confused about his approach to the law on an important legal question," Sessions argued.
He also said Hamilton blocked, for seven years, part of an Indiana law requiring women to make two trips to a clinic for counseling before they could get an abortion.
