What's the holdup? More stalling, smearing, and fumbling on judicial nominees.(WASHINGTON)

THE conservative dissatisfaction with President Bush's performance, which has recently prompted tougher talk from Bush on border security and spending restraint, now threatens the support he has enjoyed on judicial nominations. In the past year, only two federal-appeals-court nominees have been confirmed, and no nominee has even been selected for nine of the current vacancies.

Conservative activists complain that the momentum following the successful nominations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito has been squandered, owing to White House and Senate inattention. While these White House allies saw a chance to score easy goals after the Supreme Court fights, Senate Democrats and their liberal supporters have been on vigorous defense. Sen. Harry Reid is vowing to filibuster one candidate whose nomination has been pending for five years; meanwhile, the American Bar Association (ABA) recently downgraded its rating of another nominee, and has given a unanimous "unqualified" rating to a third. If Republicans want to rally conservative voters with the issue of judges this November, they have to be more aggressive and effective in defending the nominees under assault.

"A good fight on judges does nothing but energize our base," says South Dakota's Republican senator John Thune. "Right now our folks are feeling a little flat. They need a reason to get engaged, and fights over judges will do that." But some of the administration's most loyal supporters think too many Republicans lack the stomach for the fight. In early May, key Bush allies on judicial nominations declined to attend a large meeting at the White House in order to avoid so publicly airing their serious dissatisfaction with the way the nominations are going. They fault both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. "There is a lot of lip service paid to the importance of judges, but no real effort is made," complains one conservative leader.

The White House will reportedly soon be sending about two dozen judicial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. The fate of these nominees will depend on the willingness of the White House and Senate Republicans to counter the kind of objections, distortions, and smears that have been leveled against previous nominees.

Brett Kavanaugh, a White House lawyer who previously worked for independent counsel Kenneth Starr, was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals three years ago. When the seven Republicans and seven Democrats in the "Gang of 14" blocked a Senate vote that would have put an end to judicial filibusters last year, preferring instead to allow filibusters in "extraordinary circumstances," Kavanaugh's nomination stalled. Owing to the delay, Kavanaugh had to be renominated by President Bush, which gave the ABA an excuse to revisit its previous "well qualified" rating. On second look, a majority of the ABA downgraded Kavanaugh to "qualified." The committee's chairman explained that the committee now had concerns that Kavanaugh--a former Supreme Court clerk and current White House staff secretary--lacks the requisite judicial temperament because his experience is too "insulated."

Although Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter initially balked at the Democrats' demand for a rare second hearing on the nomination, he eventually relented and gave Kavanaugh's critics another crack at him. Following the second hearing, Democrats who never had any intention of supporting Kavanaugh in the first place opposed his nomination, and he was sent to the Senate floor on a party-line vote. Although Majority Leader Frist pledged to hold a final vote on his nomination before the Memorial Day recess, a busy Senate calendar could further postpone it.

Republicans have also permitted district-court judge Terrence Boyle, a former aide to Jesse Helms, to be tormented for the past five years. Appointed by President Reagan in 1984, Boyle was nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals by the first President Bush in 1991, and by his son ten years later. Although the ABA gave him a unanimous "well qualified" rating, he was blocked by former ...