Statesmanship

Tomorrow the new Congress meets. Mark Warner will take the oath of office to become Virginia's junior senator and will join Jim Webb in giving the state its first all-Democratic senatorial delegation in almost 40 years.

Webb formed a solid working relationship with Republican John Warner, Mark Warner's predecessor. Although a partisan divide does not separate Webb and the new Warner, Senate history recounts numerous examples of two senators representing the same state who -- despite sharing party affiliation -- pursued different agendas in different, sometimes conflicting, ways. Warner won by a landslide this year in part because he stressed his determination to get things done. He identified himself as a radical centrist and ran as post-ideological.

In recent years Congress has proved dysfunctional. It has made no difference whether Republicans or Democrats have run the circus. Nowhere was institutional failure more apparent than in judicial selection. When Republicans enjoyed a Senate majority, they did not always treat Bill Clinton's nominees with appropriate respect or dispatch. When Democrats reclaimed control, they treated many of George Bush's nominees to similar insults.

Webb and John Warner teamed to show a better way. They jointly vetted candidates for the federal bench and submitted approved names to the president. Last year their favored few included David Novak for a seat on the U.S. District Court for Virginia's Eastern District. The Bush administration's incompetence (it should have sent Novak to the Senate months before) and the campaign calendar conspired to doom him.

Novak is a professional who won wide praise for his successful prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui on terrorism charges following 9/11. His temperament and intellect qualify him for the job. He has earned nomination -- and confirmation -- as a federal judge. Webb already has demonstrated his thoughtful approach to judicial selection. Warner now has a chance to reflect similar virtues. The resubmission of Novak's name would be an act of statesmanship by two statesmen.