Noted.

PUTTING CHANGE ON HOLD: Since Barack Obama moved into the White House in January, the GOP has managed to block at least thirty-two of his appointees and nominations. Using a parliamentary procedure known as a hold, Senate Republicans have kept key positions like secretary of labor and ambassador to Iraq unfilled for weeks. Some positions, such as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), are still empty. A hold is supposed to be used by senators to buy some time to clear up any confusion and ask questions. Any senator can place one, even anonymously; and like a filibuster, it takes sixty votes to break.

In February, Obama named Dawn Johnsen as head of the OLC. Her responsibility would basically be to determine whether the president's policies are legal--a critically important role in light of how the Bush administration used the OLC to justify torture. Using a distorted vision of her work with the prochoice organization NARAL as an excuse, Republicans have successfully used holds and filibuster threats to keep Johnsen out of the OLC for eight months. The right also falsely claims that Johnsen once equated motherhood with indentured servitude.

David Hamilton, a widely respected centrist judge nominated by Obama to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, is another nominee trapped in appointment purgatory. Hamilton has been attacked for a litany of bizarre reasons, from his supposed court ruling against Jesus to the time he spent a month going door-to-door for ACORN after college. Like Johnsen, Hamilton remains unconfirmed despite having been nominated months ago.

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