President Bush has nominated former Rep. James Rogan to be a district judge in California (central district). Rogan was one of the House floor managers during the Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton. He also has, in the parlance of the day, a great personal story, which he tells in his autobiography Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road from Welfare to Washington.

Even in the age of judicial confirmation wars, district court nominees usually sail through the Senate. But with vengeful Hillary Clinton in the majority (recall the struggle over another the nomination of impeachment era personage, Brett Kavanaugh), we'll see how things go for Rogan.

UPDATE: To me, Rogan is a hero of the impeachment saga. As I recall, he had only narrowly been elected to Congress and was the one floor manager who took a huge political risk by pushing for Clinton's removal. As I've heard it told, Rogan's response when warned of the political danger was, in essence, that if the people in his district didn't want to see Clinton punished for his perjury then he (Rogan) wasn't so sure he wanted to represent them.

As to Hillary, it's almost certain that she won't want to revive memories of his husband's impeachment by making public stand against Rogan. However, she may have others do her bidding, as might have been the case with Kavanaugh. It's quite rare for district court nominees to face serious resistance but it's also quite rare to have an impeached president's wife in the Senate.

Posted by Paul at 05:03 PM  |    |