Critics of District Judge Robert N. Chatigny's nomination to the federal appeals court dialed up their opposition this week with television ads in Nevada and Vermont targeting two, influential U.S. senators presumed to be Chatigny supporters.
The TV spots, by Americans for Limited Government, are highly critical of Chatigny and were directed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both are Democrats.
Leahy's committee voted on June 10 to approve President Obama's nomination of Chatigny to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on a party-line vote after an extraordinarily contentious hearing. Republicans tried to portray the judge as sympathetic to sex offenders. If Republicans don't block the nomination, it will move to a vote by the full Senate.
Leahy has expressed support for Chatigny, complaining that the judge has been "unfairly smeared" by "Republican sources" on the committee. Leahy's office was silent on the ad that ran on Burlington television Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
But Reid, the target of a similar ad broadcast in Reno and Las Vegas, issued a statement through his office that probably wasn't all Chatigny's supporters could have hoped for. Reid is fighting to survive a rugged contest for re-election in conservative Nevada.