The sins of bill Clinton are coming back to haunt one of the House impeachment managers nearly a decade later as California Senator seeks to block his nomination to a federal court.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is blocking the nomination of former GOP Rep. James E. Rogan to the federal bench, citing his lead role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton as one of her concerns.

Her stance is angering Rogan allies who contend that Boxer is reneging on her support for a bipartisan commission set up in California that recommends judicial nominees to the White House. Boxer disputes that.

"U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment — he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate certainly disagreed with that conclusion, as did Sen. Boxer," said Boxer's spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.

Boxer also believes that Rogan's strongly conservative positions on gun control, abortion and other issues make him "out of step with California," Ravitz said.

Now just a minute -- since when are federal judges supposed to be "in step" with the politics of a certain state. I thought the expectation was for them to be "in step" with the Constitution of the United States. Is its Boxer's contention that we must impose a political litmus test on federal judges -- and, in the event that a Democrat wins the White House in 2008, that only conservative jurists "in step" with Texas be appointed to the bench in this very red state?

But more disturbing is her attempt to rehash the impeachment issue. I'd like to like Senator Hillary Clinton to speak out publicly on this issue.

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