Posted on 11/11/2004 10:26:57 PM PST by sanchmo
We all want President Bush to be able to get his Judicial and Executive Branch nominees a fair hearing and a fair up-or-down vote in the Senate. FReepers - especially Always Right - have done a great job putting pressure on Republicans to prevent Arlen Specter from taking the chair of the Judiciary Committee.
See: Remove Specter from the Judiciary (Day 9)
Whether you agree or disagree with dumping Specter, whether you have already called and emailed about him or are afraid of losing the votes of the Senate's liberal Republicans, there is something else you can do to help President Bush get his nominees to a floor vote:
Pressure the Senate GOP to change Senate rules to prevent the filibuster of presidential nominees
ABOUT THE NUCLEAR OPTION
From GOP senators pushing for up-or-down vote
...Sen. Arlen Specter, the moderate Pennsylvania Republican in line to chair the Judiciary Committee, is under strong pressure from conservatives in his party to promise he would support a move to give Bush's nominees an up-or-down vote in the Senate by helping GOP leaders force a change in a nearly century-old rule to prevent a judge from being blocked by a filibuster...
...A promise to help alter long-standing Senate rules is part of the penance some Republican conservatives are demanding from Specter, whose comments were widely interpreted as a veiled warning to Bush against nominating staunch conservatives who oppose abortion rights...
...Republicans could ask their presiding officer - most likely Vice President Dick Cheney - to rule that it was unconstitutional to require more than 51 votes to confirm a nominee. Republicans would have to muster only a simple majority to sustain that ruling - thus setting a precedent that judicial nominees could not be filibustered. The rule-change tactic was last used by Democrats in 1975...
Frist finger on ‘nuclear’ button (May 13, 2004)
... The most likely scenario would be for a Republican senator to raise a point of order that the process of naming conferees may not be filibustered. Then the chair — most likely to be Vice President Dick Cheney during such a momentous point in Senate history — would sustain the point of order.
Democrats trying to protect the power of the minority would likely then object to the ruling of the chair, but Republicans could counter by offering a non-debatable motion to table the objection, which would only require a simple majority or 51 votes to pass.
If the motion to table garnered 51 votes, the rules of the Senate would be effectively changed. The same tactic could be used to declare that the confirmation of presidential nominees could not be filibustered...
Nuclear option retained to break filibuster (JUNE 25, 2003)
The Senate Rules Committee has reported a resolution that would ease confirmation of judges... The resolution would change the Senate rules dealing with judicial nominations, which currently require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Instead, the resolution, introduced by Frist, would provide for a series of cloture votes, where the threshold would gradually decrease until only a simple majority is required to overcome it... Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) said Frist might first try to call up the resolution, and then try other parliamentary maneuvers if it fails.
Frist finger on ‘nuclear’ button (May 13, 2004)
Senate GOP leaders are considering resorting to what they call the “constitutional option” and what Democrats deride as the “nuclear option”... Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said the constitutional option could be used to prevent emocrats from filibustering judicial and executive branch nominees or the naming of Senate conferees. “The Senate hasn’t been reformed for 25 years, maybe it’s time to reform the Senate,” said Frist.
Lott says he’ll seek a fourth term in 2006 (November 10, 2004)
Lott might seek the “nuclear option” in getting President Bush’s judicial nominees a floor vote. Republicans have discussed the use of that controversial tactic in recent months. Using that approach, Republicans would be able to change Senate rules with only 51 votes — as opposed to the 67 usually needed — to safeguard judicial nominees from filibuster.
Will Senate Republicans "go nuclear" over judges? (September 13, 2004)
Sen. Lott... doesn't expect the Republican leadership to go nuclear on judges--if it does at all--until after the election or early 2005 (assuming Bush and a GOP Senate majority are reelected).
Contact the GOP members of the Senate Rules Committee to demand that they immediately change Senate rules to prohibit filibustering of presidential appointments and nominations:
Trent Lott, Chairman
senatorlott@lott.senate.gov
(202) 224-6253
Ted Stevens
http://stevens.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm
(202) 224-3004
Mitch McConnell
* Also Majority Whip
senator@mcconnell.senate.gov
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm
Phone 202-224-2541
fax 202-224-2499
Thad Cochran
http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm
(202) 224-5054
Rick Santorum
* Also Senate GOP Conference Chairman
http://santorum.senate.gov/emailrjs.html
Phone 202-224-6324
fax 202-228-0604
fax 202-228-4991
Don Nickles
http://nickles.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Email
(202) 224-5754
Kay Bailey Hutchison
* Also Senate GOP Conference Vice-Chair
http://hutchison.senate.gov/e-mail.htm
Phone 202-224-5922
fax 202-224-0776
Bill Frist
* Also Majority Leader
Bill_Frist@FristSenate.gov
Phone: 202-224-3344
Fax: 202-228-1264
Gordon Smith
http://gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htm
(202) 224-3753
C. Saxby Chambliss
saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov
http://chambliss.senate.gov/Contact/default.cfm?pagemode=1
Tel: (202) 224-3521
Fax: (202) 224-0103
Contant the Senate GOP leadership to demand that they change Senate rules - via resolution OR the constitutional option - to prohibit filibustering of presidential appointments and nominations... and that this rule change happen before the next Judiciary Committee Chairman is selected:
Sen. Bill Frist (Tn.), majority leader.
* Also Member of Senate Rules Committee
Bill_Frist@FristSenate.gov
Phone: 202-224-3344
Fax: 202-228-1264
Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), majority whip.
senator@mcconnell.senate.gov
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm
Phone 202-224-2541
fax 202-224-2499,
Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), chairman, Senate Republican Conference.
* Also Member of Senate Rules Committee
http://santorum.senate.gov/emailrjs.html
Phone 202-224-6324
fax 202-228-0604
fax 202-228-4991,
Sen. George Allen (Va.), chairman, National Republican Senatorial Committee.
http://allen.senate.gov/index.cfm?c=email
Phone 202-675-6000
fax 202-675-6058
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Tx.), vice-chairman, Senate Republican Conference.
* Also Member of Senate Rules Committee
http://hutchison.senate.gov/e-mail.htm
Phone 202-224-5922
fax 202-224-0776
Sen. Norm Coleman (Mn.), candidate for chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Phone 202-224-5641,
fax 202-224-1152,
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (NC), candidate for chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
http://dole.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm
Phone 202-224-6342
fax 202-224-1100
Contact the GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee passage of these Senate rule cahnges happen before any vote on the next chairman:
Yes, Arlen... we're talking to you,
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch
http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Offices.Contact
Tel: (202) 224-5251
Fax: (202) 224-6331
Sen. Charles E. Grassley
http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Tel: (202) 224-3744
Fax: (202) 224-6020
Sen. Jon Kyl
http://kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Tel: (202) 224-4521
Fax: (202) 224-2207
Sen. Mike DeWine
http://dewine.senate.gov
Tel: (202) 224-2315
Fax: (202) 224-6519
Sen. Jeff Sessions
senator@sessions.senate.gov
http://sessions.senate.gov/contact.htm#form
Tel: (202) 224-4124
Fax: (202) 224-3149
Sen. Lindsey Graham
http://lgraham.senate.gov/index.cfm?mode=contact
Tel: (202) 224-5972 Fax: (202) 224-1189
Sen. Larry Craig
http://craig.senate.gov/webform.html
Tel: (202) 224-2752
Fax: (202) 228-1067
Sen. Saxby Chambliss
* Also Member of Senate Rules Committee
saxby_chambliss@chambliss.senate.gov
http://chambliss.senate.gov/Contact/default.cfm?pagemode=1
Tel: (202) 224-3521
Fax: (202) 224-0103
Sen. John Cornyn
http://cornyn.senate.gov/contact/index.html
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
CONTACT YOUR OWN SENATOR:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
I like that opening line in the article, e.g., "the moderate republican".... That's akin to pointing out the fact that Arizona's John McCain would be a New York democrat except for the sliding bar in both party's as we more toward the Left Coast. I really wish "we" would use the term Liberal Republican instead - at least we would not be emulating the MSM:)
Freeped 'em all.
I'm undecided on Specter: he's a total liberal who should NOT chair the Judiciary committee, but I'm not sure if taking him off the committee is worth it. I do think the GOP needs to go nuclear though if it means getting Supreme Court judges confirmed.
Good job Boris.
Did ya pass it on?
Thread continues here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1280076/posts?page=2#2
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