Robert J. Conrad - Federal Appeals Nomination

Federal Appeals Nomination

On July 17, 2007, Judge Conrad was nominated by President George W. Bush to a controversial North Carolina seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by Judge James Dickson Phillips, Jr. in 1994.

Originally, President George H. W. Bush nominated Terrence Boyle to a Fourth Circuit seat, but the Senate Democrats who were in control of the 102nd Congress refused to process his nomination. During his two-term administration, President Bill Clinton tried to integrate the Fourth Circuit by filling the seat with two African-American jurists, first James A. Beaty, Jr. and secondly James A. Wynn, Jr.. Because Clinton refused to renominate Boyle to the Fourth Circuit, then North Carolina senator, Jesse Helms, blocked both nominees.

On May 9, 2001, Boyle was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Fourth Circuit again, this time to the seat vacated by Judge Phillips in 1994. His nomination was never brought to a vote on the floor of the Senate. For over five years, the nomination was stalled. Boyle's nomination is the longest federal appeals court nomination never given a full Senate vote.

His nomination was adamantly opposed by Democrats from the beginning. Former North Carolina Democrat and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards claimed Boyle was an opponent of civil rights and disabilities legislation. Boyle's supporters viewed Boyle as the victim of political payback and obstruction because of his ties to Helms, who had blocked Clinton's two nominees to the seat because of Boyle, and the determination of liberal politicians not to let conservatives serve at the highest levels of the federal judiciary.

In March 2005, following Bush's re-election and an increased Republican Senate majority, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave Boyle a hearing almost a full four years after his nomination. On June 16, 2005, Boyle was voted out of Committee on a 10-8 party line vote.

In April 2006, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he would try to schedule a vote in May on the nomination of Boyle. No vote occurred however. With the Democrats taking over the U.S. Senate in the 110th Congress, Boyle's confirmation chances markedly decreased. On January 9, 2007, the White House announced that it would not be re-nominating Boyle to the Fourth Circuit. At the time, Boyle clearly stated he did not voluntarily withdraw his nomination. Conrad was nominated to replace Boyle.

Although he had the support of North Carolina's two Republican senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, Judge Conrad ran into immediate opposition from Senate Democrats and liberal groups such as People for the American Way and the Alliance for Justice. There were concerns over both Conrad's writings prior to his confirmation as a district court judge and his rulings later as a judge.

Conrad had referred to Planned Parenthood’s OB/GYNs as “abortionists.” He also wrote that “Planned Parenthood knowingly kills unborn babies, not fetuses, as a method of post conception contraception.” Additionally, he claimed that Planned Parenthood had done nothing to reduce teen pregnancy rates and should not receive funding for its contraception services. In 1999, Conrad wrote "Habitually Wrong" which was published in the Catholic Dossier. In it, he heavily criticized Sister Helen Prejean’s book Dead Man Walking. He referred to the book as “liberal drivel” and to Sister Prejean as a “Church-hating nun.” He contended that, “This surprisingly shallow book wallows in worn-out liberal shibboleths and dated anecdotes.”

In addition, according to People for the American Way, Judge Conrad's short tenure on the district court had not served to put to rest the concerns raised by his pre-judicial record. To the contrary, this activist group stated that he “'consistently ruled against plaintiffs alleging employment discrimination,' he appear hostile to the rights of criminal defendants, and, sitting by designation on the Fourth Circuit, he joined an anti-environmental ruling overturning a district court decision that the Army Corps of Engineers had violated the Clean Water Act in approving a permit for the discharge of material from mountain-top mining."

During the 110th Congress, Senator Patrick Leahy D-VT, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, used Judge Conrad's comments on Prejean to justify why he refused to schedule a hearing for Conrad. He said that Conrad was "anti-Catholic", which enraged Senate Republicans. The Republicans countered that Conrad, himself a Catholic, had merely criticized Prejean for “the near total contempt displayed for the Roman Catholic Church.” In short, Conrad was defending the Catholic Church from the anti-Catholic comments he believed the nun to have made.

Conrad's nomination lapsed with the end of the Bush administration. President Barack Obama chose to nominate James A. Wynn, Jr. to the seat in 2009.