The Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved the nomination for Attorney General of controversial White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, sending it to the full Senate for a vote sometime next week.
The committee voted for Gonzales along strict party lines, with all ten Republicans supporting him and all eight Democrats against him.
Gonzales committed to enforcing federal obscenity laws during his questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
While Senate Democrats intend to use the confirmation process to highlight Gonzales’ authorship of key legal documents that authorized torture, the Bush loyalist still shouldn’t have any problems winning the nomination from a Republican controlled Senate.
It is rare that the Senate fights a cabinet nomination, traditionally giving the president wide latitude in choosing his advisors.
Assuming Gonzales receives his confirmation, he will be the nation's 80th attorney general, the first Hispanic to ever fill that role.
