Hartford Courant: Key GOP Backing May Help Obama Nominee From Connecticut

Strong support from influential Republicans with ties to the Justice Department appears to have substantially weakened partisan opposition to President Barack Obama's nomination of Hartford District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Republicans on the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee had been threatening to challenge the nomination over Chatigny's involvement in a hearing that delayed the execution of serial killer Michael Ross, as well as some criminal sentences that committee Republicans appeared poised to challenge as overly lenient. But on Monday, the committee disclosed that it had scheduled a hearing on Chatigny's nomination for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The move followed a lobbying effort by Chatigny supporters — and the subsequent withdrawal by committee Republicans of a request for federal court records that could have delayed the hearing for weeks or months.

The opposition began to melt last week after the committee received a letter strongly supporting Chatigny signed by Alan H. Nevas, Kevin J. O'Connor and Stanley A. Twardy Jr., all Connecticut Republicans and former holders of presidentially appointed Justice Department offices...

Michael B. Mukasey, a former U.S. attorney general in the George W. Bush administration and a former 2nd Circuit judge, called senior committee Republicans to offer his support of Chatigny, people familiar with the process said.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-chatigny-gop-backing-0426,0,1685753.story


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