But the Democrats in the Senate, especially the new chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Joseph Biden, picked a fight over Bork and defeated his nomination by fifty-eight to forty-two.
He is also the first House majority leader to be defeated for nomination since the office was created 115 years ago.Mr Cantor had openly angled to become the next Speaker of the House, and was not above undercutting John Boehner, who fills the job now.
Neither man would take his seat: Stanton was confirmed, but died before he took office; Hoar was widely disliked in the Senate, which defeated his nomination 24-33.
Stanton was confirmed, but died before he took office; Hoar was widely disliked in the Senate, which defeated his nomination 24 33.
Senate Republicans, while not publicly conceding defeat, have turned their efforts to a backup strategy; even if the committee defeats the nomination, they hope to force the Democrats to allow the Pickering nomination to go to the full Senate where they hope one or two Democrats from the South will defect and support confirmation.
Lefever's nomination elicited a groundswell of opposition among members of Congress, human rights activists and the public that helped defeat his nomination.
A Virginia Republican delegate who led the effort to defeat the nomination of a gay Richmond prosecutor to a post on the general district court defended his opposition to the nomination, questioning how he would rule in the case of a "bar room fight between a homosexual and heterosexual" and added that "sodomy is not a civil right".
"It will be hard to defeat this nomination, that's the reality," this aide said.
Liberal groups hope that Democrats, who hold a 10too 9 majority on the committee, will defeat the nomination.
This year, he helped defeat the nomination of a Bush administration official who favored the mine to a federal appellate court.
