WASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday nominated the son of Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., to be a federal judge in Kentucky, one day after he picked the son of Sen. Strom Thurmond to be South Carolina's U.S. attorney.
Bush selected David Bunning to be a U.S. judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He is currently an assistant U.S. attorney in the district.
"These nominees are going to be exceptional judges for Kentucky and our nation," the state's two Republican senators -- Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell -- said in a joint statement. "We strongly support the president's choices, and are going to do all we can to push their speedy confirmation by the Senate."
On Wednesday, Bush picked Strom Thurmond Jr., an assistant state prosecutor in Aiken, S.C., to be that state's top federal prosecutor.
Bunning's nomination was one of 16 for the federal judiciary that the White House announced Thursday.
With that wave, Bush has made 44 nominations for federal district and circuit courts, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The total surpasses the nominations made by Bush's three predecessors by this point in their presidencies, Fleischer said.
On a day when the Senate Commerce Committee voted against Bush's choice to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Fleischer called on lawmakers to quickly approve his judicial nominees.
"In the past three administrations, there has been a very long-standing, bipartisan tradition of nominees who are named prior to the August recess being confirmed in that first year of their presidency," Fleischer said.
"Consistent with that bipartisan history, the president hopes and urges that the Senate will move forward and act on all 44 of his nominations this year."
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