Haynes Should be Blocked from Being on the Court

In a “Vote that Shouldn’t be Ducked" Paul at PowerLine accuses Sen. Graham of ducking a negative vote on the nomination of Jim Haynes for the Fourth Circuit by blocking the nomination from moving out of the Judiciary Committee. This is based on an article in The Hill newspaper that says Graham is blocking the nomination.

The Hill speculates, as I have, that Lindsey Graham is blocking the nomination of Jim Haynes to the Fourth Circuit, and that Graham’s good friend John McCain may also be involved. The notion is that McCain, who opposes Haynes because as General Counsel of Defense Department Haynes had a role with respect to the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees, would rather not have to vote against Haynes. By preventing Haynes from getting past the Judiciary Committee, Graham relieves his friend from having to cast that vote.

I do not agree that Graham is ducking the vote.He is against the policy of torture which Haynes has endorsed and has refused to answer crucial questions about his documented role in the implementation of the policy. He was an Army JAG and is current General Counsel of the DoD. Graham has also counted the tea leaves and sees that there will be a filibuster on the Senate floor once Haynes is passed out of committee. Rather than being seen as hypocritical he has decided that the better course of action is blocking him in committee. This is the far better course of action because inflaming the debate over GITMO in this context would do much more harm than good.