Sarbanes, Mikulski Want a Md. Appointee

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 10, 2004; Page B01

For the second time in two months, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote Thursday night on President Bush's nomination of Claude A. Allen, a prominent Virginia conservative, for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond.

A standoff between the White House and Maryland's two Democratic senators, Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes, means that, barring a last-minute deal, the nomination is most likely dead for the year.
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Allen, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was Virginia's secretary of health and human resources under Gov. James S. Gilmore III ®.

As an aide to North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms ® in the mid-1980s, he sparked controversy by referring once to homosexuals as \"queers.\" Allen told the committee he meant no insult to any individual or group.

The American Bar Association's judiciary review committee rated Allen in the bottom fifth of federal nominees in the past two years.
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twin58:
As an aide to North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms ® in the mid-1980s, he sparked controversy by referring once to homosexuals as \"queers.\" Allen told the committee he meant no insult to any individual or group.