Bush: Judicial filibusters not attack on ‘faith’

He rejects theory of
conservative Christians

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Faith and politics
April 28: President Bush rejects the view that Democrats’ filibuster of 10 of his judicial nominees is an “attack on faith,” saying the dispute arises from disagreement with their judicial philosophy.

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updated 9:49 p.m. ET April 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday that his stalled judicial nominees deserve an “up-or-down vote,” but declined to throw his lot in with conservative Christians who have called Democratic tactics a “filibuster against people of faith.”

“I think people are opposing my nominees because they don’t like the judicial philosophy of the people I’ve nominated,” he said at a White House news conference. “... I don’t ascribe a person’s opposing my nominations to an issue of faith.”

But he insisted that his nominees deserve an up-or-down vote in the Senate and said those votes are being unfairly blocked by some who want judges to “legislate from the bench.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.