Impasse continues between Tennessee House and Senate over judicial confirmation process

Sen. Mike Bell
Sen. Mike Bell

NASHVILLE - While voters entrusted state lawmakers in 2014 to ride herd over Tennessee governors' appointments of top judges, state representatives and senators on Thursday remained at loggerheads over how to do that amid mutual suspicion.

That's pretty much where the General Assembly wound up last April on plans to establish a legislative process for confirmation of the five state Supreme Court justices and 24 other appellate court judges named by the governor.

Confirmation or rejection of the appointments was a key provision in the state constitutional amendment approved by voters nearly 18 months ago. It created for the first time legislative say-so over the appointments.

Lawmakers have a 60-day window once their annual session starts to say either yea or nay to a governor's appointment. If no decision is made the governor's appointment stands by default.

The amendment, however, left details on all this to the 99-member state House and 33-member Senate. Last year, both chambers shot down their respective versions of the confirmation process. Members of each chamber feared the other's version would put themselves at a disadvantage.

And on the last day of the 2014 session, senators in spectacular fashion shot down a compromise hammered out by a House and Senate conference committee. It provided the entire 132-member General Assembly would vote instead of the respective chambers. Senators feared becoming irrelevant to the process.

Fast forward to Thursday, the third day of lawmakers' 2016 session. The 60-day clock is now ticking on Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's appointment of Republican Roger Page to the state Supreme Court.

Leaders of the GOP-dominated conference committee had high hopes a compromise would be accepted. It provided that the House and Senate would each vote en bloc within their respective chambers and includes provisions seeking to keep one chamber from stymieing the other by not acting and thus ensuring an appointment stands.

In the end, virtually nothing changed, with both Senate and House GOP conferees repeatedly voicing suspicions about one another's chamber and governors even as they maintained they weren't speaking of the current crop of representatives and senators nor fellow Republican Haslam.

No, they insisted, they were worried about mischief by future lawmakers and governors.

"We do not need to rush through stuff," said Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville. "If we [House members] pass something where only 17 people [in the Senate] can confirm somebody through their actions or inactions, we aren't a voice for the people."

In an effort to make his point, Dunn fell back on the Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau.

"When we rush, it reminds me of Esau in the Bible who had his birthright and he was hungry and so he came in and for just a little bowl of stew he gave it all up," Dunn said. "I'm not ready today to just give in because we're hungry or we want to do something."

Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, raised concerns that one process "makes it easier to confirm judges than a member of the Tennessee Wildlife Commission."

Various concerns were raised. What if a future governor - all agreed Haslam would not do this to them - submitted a nomination just moments before a legislature adjourned its annual session? Could they call themselves back in a special session or does the constitutional language stating "annual session" restrict them to their regular session?

After wrangling for some 90 minutes on those and other issues, all the while professing their trust of each other and Haslam amid discussions of potential skulduggery, they gave up for the day and resolved to meet again next week.

Legislative attorneys were instructed to write up language on four different options for them to consider on Monday.

"Candidly, I thought we'd come out with two ideas," said Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, the House chairman of the conference committee. "I didn't think we'd come out with four."

Lundberg called it one of those situations "where if we don't get it right, years down the road somebody's going to look back and go, 'Who didn't do their job?' And this is that time right now."

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com, 615-255-0550 or follow via twitter at AndySher1.

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