NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - A nominee for the federal
court in New York whom Republicans had criticized for her lack
of courtroom experience and liberal views, was confirmed on
Thursday by the Senate in a narrow, party-line vote.
Alison Nathan, a lawyer for the New York solicitor
general's office, was confirmed by a final vote of 48 to 44,
one of the closest votes for any of President Obama's district
court nominees.
The Senate voted to confirm two other judicial nominees on
Thursday: Katherine Forrest to the bench in the Southern
District of New York, and Susan Hickey to a federal trial court
in Arkansas.
Forrest, a Justice Department lawyer specializing in
antitrust law and a former partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore,
was confirmed by a voice vote, meaning no official tally was
taken. Hickey, a state court judge in Arkansas since 2010, was
confirmed by a vote of 83 to 8.
Nathan and Hickey had both faced criticism in the judiciary
committee. Ranking committee Republican leader Charles Grassley
criticized the White House for nominating judicial candidates
with "limited experience."
Nathan in particular faced harsh questioning during her
judiciary committee hearing over her views on the death
penalty, gun rights and judicial precedents.
Nevertheless both nominees were approved by the judiciary
committee and garnered votes from both Democrats and
Republicans, in keeping with Senate practice of allowing most
nominees to face consideration by the full chamber.
The White House did not comment on the closeness of the
Nathan vote.
Senator Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat who
recommended Nathan to the White House, hailed her confirmation,
adding that she is the first openly gay woman to go through the
judicial confirmation process.
Curt Levey, executive director of the conservative-leaning
Committee for Justice, said he wasn't aware of any organized
effort by Republicans to block Nathan's nomination, as they
had done with other Obama judicial nominees who faced close
votes.
"At the end of the day, I've never favored trying to stop
every controversial nominee," said Levey. "But if you do
nominate people who are borderline, there is going to be a
cost, even if they do get confirmed. I think that's what
happened here."
(Reporting by Carlyn Kolker)
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