New York Times - May 25, 2001
In Setting Priorities, Democrats Give Up Confirmation Battle By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, May 24 - The Senate voted today to confirm Theodore B. Olson as solicitor general by a narrow margin after Democrats, contemplating their imminent majority status, decided they did not want to defeat the nomination as the first exercise of their new power.
The defection this morning of Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont from the Republican Party thus had the unpredicted result of helping Mr. Olson in his bitter confirmation battle, which Democrats on the Judiciary Committee had delayed and strenuously opposed.
Many senators had believed the defeat of the Olson nomination would be the first consequence of the profound shift in power in the Senate from Mr. Jeffords's defection.
Democrats had earlier considered trying to mount a campaign to defeat Mr. Olson's nomination on the basis of the major role he played over the last several years in a campaign of relentless criticism of President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton. In addition, Mr. Olson was the object of great partisan resentment by the Democrats for his representation of George W. Bush in the Florida election case before the Supreme Court that resulted in Mr. Bush winning the presidency.
But at their private caucus today, Democratic leaders told members they would allow the Olson nomination to go to a vote as they regrouped and figured out how they wanted to reshape the Senate agenda.
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