President Barack Obama will have a stronger hand to push through environmental, and other financial regulations after the Senate voted to allow a simple majority to confirm most of the presidential candidates.
Rule change yesterday means that Obama does not need Republican support to win approval of its nominees to run federal agencies and serve federal trial and appellate courts. There are 231 Obama nominees pending in the Senate, including 53 judges, 81 candidates for the Cabinet-level agencies and 13 independent regulatory agencies, according to figures provided by the White House.
Most importantly, in many ways, are selections to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which deals with the challenges to federal regulations and is called the second highest court in the land.
"Under any administration, federal agencies seeking to implement the president's policies by developing regulations," said Jeff Holmstead, an attorney for Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in Washington who has represented utilities - heavy carbon. "But in most cases, the DC Circuit judges are the people who decide whether these rules comply with federal law."
Among the cases that are submitted to the court is one of the rules "net neutrality" of the Federal Communications Commission to require Internet service providers such as Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Comcast Corp. to treat all traffic itself a target of Google Inc. (GOOG ) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX)
three vacancies.
The court - which has three vacancies and where Republicans now have an advantage - probably also rule on the government's proposal to limit carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. These standards are being developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection now, and may not be ripe for a legal challenge over a year.
