In another setback for President George W. Bush’s judicial nominations, the White House withdrew on Wednesday the nomination of E. Duncan Getchell Jr. for one of five vacant judgeships on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bush’s nomination of Getchell, a Federalist Society member and appellate group chairman at McGuireWoods in Richmond, Va., to fill a judgeship traditionally held by Virginia was dead on arrival last September because Bush ignored the list of candidates proposed by Virginia Sens. Jim Webb Jr., a Democrat, and John Warner, a Republican. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wasn’t going to move Getchell’s nomination forward to a confirmation hearing without the consent of the home-state senators.
