On December 2, 2003, Judicial Watch filed formal complaints against Senators Kennedy and Durbin, both for improperly obstructing the confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees.
Senator Kennedy spent at least one full year instructing his staff to stall the confirmation of Judge Julia Gibbons. Judge Gibbons was nominated by President Bush to fill an open seat on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sen. Kennedy violated the Senate Ethics Manual by stalling Judge Gibbons' confirmation in order to influence the outcome of the affirmative action decision relation to the University of Michigan and its law school, a landmark case heard in the 6th Circuit.
Likewise, Senator Durbin stalled the confirmations of Miguel Estrada (a Bush nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court) and Judge Janice Rogers Brown. Published reports indicate that Sen. Durbin opposed Estrada because he is Latino and Rogers Brown because she is black. Judicial Watch's formal complaint speaks to the lack of integrity of Sen. Durbin and his racially motivated tactics.
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