Republicans Delay Committee Vote On 7th Circuit Nominee Over His Establishment Clause Decisions

At the request of Republican members of the Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote that was to have taken place yesterday on the nomination of Indiana district judge David Hamilton to serve on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. According to yesterday's Indianapolis Star, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions said that Republicans needed more time to review Hamilton's record on the district court. Sessions pointed particularly to Hamilton's rulings holding that the opening of sessions of the Indiana House of Representatives with sectarian prayer was a violation of the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) Subsequently the decision was reversed on standing grounds by the 7th Circuit. Hamilton testified at his nomination hearings that the law on taxpayer standing changed between his decision and the reversal by the 7th Circuit.