Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will keep the U.S. Senate in session over the Thanksgiving break because he wants to block President Bush from making any recess appointments. Roll Call is reporting that Sen. Reid inserted a statement into the record Friday stating that he will "hold the Senate in a series of pro forma or nonvoting sessions" to prevent Bush from exercising his appointment power. Reid said, “While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made on nominations. I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me halfway.

Liberal Senators Complaining About “Obstructionism" on Iraq Legislation Use the Same Tactics They Now Condemn to Block Judicial Nominees Project 21 members say the liberal Senate leadership, which has embarked on an overnight session to "highlight Republican obstructionism" on consideration to legislation to withdraw troops from Iraq, is hypocritical, as these senators have used the same tactics they now condemn to block the confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominations over the past six-and-a-half years. "The immoral duplicity of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his henchmen once again unambiguously shows there are no depths too low for liberal politicians to...

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of bribery, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, racketeering and conspiracy at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va. Jefferson is free on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond -- he took an oath affirming he would make future court appearances in lieu of paying the bond Jefferson had been in the crosshairs of a Virginia U.S. attorney's office for allegedly accepting bribes to steer business to a communications firm in Nigeria and soliciting bribes to benefit various companies owned by his family. A grand jury returned...

IN ELEMENTARY school, recess is a time for fun and games. The same is true, unfortunately, in the nation's capital. President Bush last week took advantage of a Senate recess to appoint three controversial figures to positions — including a major ambassadorship — that ordinarily require confirmation. In the spirit of the playground, Vice President Dick Cheney yukked it up with talk show host Rush Limbaugh about how the administration had gone around the Democratic-controlled Senate, which returned this week. "You go on vacation, this is what happens to you," joked Limbaugh. "If you're a Democrat," Cheney replied. Sam Fox,...

WICHITA, Kan. — Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, charged a well-known abortion provider with illegally performing late-term abortions, but a Sedgwick County judge on Friday threw out the charges after less than a day. Judge Paul W. Clark dismissed the charges against Tiller after Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said her office had not been consulted by Kline. Clark signed his one-page order only hours after Kline's complaint against Tiller was unsealed. Attorney General Phill Kline's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Kline lost his re-election bid in November and leaves office in three weeks....

President Clinton's national security adviser removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency's internal watchdog said Wednesday. The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents. Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission. Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration's representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified materials....

ABC News has learned that charges will be filed against 7 Marines and One Navy Corpsmen. The charges are expected to include murder, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in relation to the killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian in the town of Hamdania.

The disciplinary arm of the N.C. State Bar dropped charges of felonious misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday because of a 1999 clerical error at the state Supreme Court. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 death penalty case. The ruling Friday marks the second time that Honeycutt and Brewer won on procedural grounds before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which sits as judge and jury in disciplinary cases. . . . Prosecutors around the state are concerned that the case is damaging their reputation and...

(CNSNews.com) - As announced last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to meet today -- Tuesday -- to vote on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. But it's not going to happen as planned. Despite protests from Republicans, Democrats on the committee have pushed back the Judiciary Committee vote by one week, to Tuesday, Jan. 24, invoking their right to do so under Senate rules

The N.C. State Bar has challenged the dismissal of disciplinary charges against two former Union County prosecutors, saying they committed felonies to win a death penalty conviction. Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer were charged with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in the 1996 murder trial. Honeycutt, the former district attorney in Union County, has since returned to private practice; Brewer is now a District Court judge in Richmond County. Last week, the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission cited a missed deadline in dismissing the case against them. But the bar's lawyers say there is no deadline to bring charges because the...

The New York Sun reports that Democrats blocked the adoption of a resolution denouncing Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his anti-Semitic remaeks and Holocaust denial until a demand for an Iranian plebescite and self-determination free of the Guardian Council had been removed. The objection officially came from Senator Wyden (D-OR), who then told the Senate that, uh, he didn't have a problem with the resolutuion, but that his colleagues did -- who displayed their intestinal fortitude by hiding behind Wyden's skirts: When Mr. Santorum moved to introduce the resolution last Friday, Senator Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, registered an unusual...

WASHINGTON — The Senate blocked the defense spending bill Wednesday in order to force out provisions on oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. The measure had been put into a must-pass defense spending bill in an attempt to get the drilling through the Senate despite opposition. Drilling supporters fell four votes short of getting the required 60 votes to avoid a threatened filibuster of the defense measure over the oil drilling issue. Senate leaders were expected to withraw the legislation so it could be reworked without the refuge language. The vote was 56-44. Click here to see how...

The United States and China should have a joint energy research and development program, a senior US Senator said, warning that the two powers could go to war in their insatiable quest for depleting foreign energy supplies. "We are heading towards two thirds by each country on dependence on foreign oil. Let's recognize this problem before it becomes an intense competition which can actually lead to military conflict," said Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic Senator from Connecticut. "Let's do it by each trying to diversify to clean fuels, alternative fuels, hybrids, electric plug ins," he told reporters after speaking at a...

Libby indicted on obstruction of justice, false statment and perjury charge...

The White House signaled on Monday that President Bush may bypass the Senate and appoint John Bolton, his embattled nominee for U.N. ambassador, to the post temporarily as hope faded for a Senate vote on the nomination. Congressional aides said a recess appointment could be announced as early as Friday night, immediately after the Senate is scheduled to adjourn for the monthlong August break. A recess appointment would allow Bolton to take up the U.N. post but he would serve only until January 2007. The nomination of the blunt-spoken conservative has been held up by accusations he tried to manipulate...

Packing the Court : A Recipe for Disaster My dad was a “Roosevelt man” through and through; but, in 1937 ,Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to make an end run around the checks and balances of the Constitution by “packing” three additional judges-all sympathetic to his goals-into an all-new ,Roosevelt-friendly, 12 judge Supreme Court. In doing so, he lost the respect of the people like my dad, and came close to being swept out of office by an angry electorate. The people understood very clearly, FDR already had control of the House and the Senate. If he could secure control of...

Seven years later, the pain lingers for some. “Since ‘Seinfeld’ ended its first run, no new network sitcom has come along that even compares with it in terms of intelligence and wittiness -- especially not at NBC, which each fall stands for New Bad Comedies,” Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales wrote in July 2003, after watching Jerry Seinfeld perform his standup routine. It’s cute that he slips the words “first run” in there, as if there may eventually be a “second run.” There won’t be. The actors have plenty of cash, and aren’t likely to tarnish their franchise with...

Before President George W. Bush could grasp his next breath following his announcement of Justice John G. Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy stumbled to the minority party reaction podium for a quick precursor to the upcoming litmus test they have planned for the new nominee. They don’t even attempt to deny it anymore. “All questions are legitimate,” New York Democrat and Judiciary Committee member Charles E. Schumer said earlier this month. “What is your view on Roe vs. Wade? What is your view on gay marriage?” Schumer took great pains to be...

By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 5 minutes ago Congressional action on Social Security legislation, President Bush's top domestic priority, may not come anytime soon. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who earlier predicted his panel would deal with a bill in early June, said Wednesday it may not get to it until September at the earliest. Meanwhile, the head of the Senate Finance Committee said he hoped a meeting Thursday morning might spur some action, though he was not sure it would. Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said the schedule for his Ways and Means committee...

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement seems sure to lead to a brutal political battle over the confirmation of her replacement. There is no indication that George W. Bush intends to nominate someone who appeared on a recent list of nominees acceptable to Senate Democrats. This would be to cede the appointing power from the president and the Senate majority to a minority in the Senate. Nor is there any indication that People for the American Way or the Alliance for Justice will not oppose any Bush nominee with every ounce of strength they have. These groups exist for the purpose...