1.   He acknowledged discrimination against minority motorists only when his court nomination was in the balance, and excused himself by saying he had only recently seen the damning evidence.

2.   Appeals court nominations for two Californians have been languishing for years in the Republican-controlled Senate.

3.   He has made several lower court nominations.

4.   Republicans also backed away from their request for a vote on making public senatorial vetoes of lower court judicial nominations.