Posted on 01/31/2005 3:41:25 PM PST by RWR8189
During President Bush's first term, 10 of his judicial nominees were filibustered by Senate Democrats. This month, when the 109th Congress convened, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist finally declared war. Calling the filibusters an "unfortunate break with more than 200 years of Senate tradition," he made the Democrats an offer he hopes they can't refuse. "Right now," he said ominously, "we cannot be certain judicial filibusters will cease. So I reserve the right to propose changes to Senate Rule XXII and do not acquiesce to carrying over all the rules from the last Congress."
In other words, if Democrats don't play ball, Frist reserves the right to invoke the "nuclear option": a parliamentary ruling that eliminates judicial filibusters by fiat, without a vote of the Senate.
But the majority leader protests too much. Not only have filibusters been attempted against judicial nominees in the past, but Frist himself has even voted for one. In 2000, after Senate conservatives had held up Bill Clinton's nomination of Richard Paez to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for four years, Frist joined in an unsuccessful attempt to filibuster Paez -- a judge who was favored by a clear majority of the Senate and who won confirmation after the filibuster was broken by a vote of 59 to 39.
Still, Frist has a point. Senate Democrats have relied on filibusters to block judicial nominees far more often than have minority parties in previous
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Frist is in a much better position with 55 members in his caucus than he was with 51, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as this session gets under way.
The senate is truly a tyranny of the minority.
With all due respect to the Honorable Senator Frist: Fight them or run away with your tail tucked between your legs like the other gutless Republicans.
Make it so.
If they do not, then we are so over.
Talk is cheap. Yhe dems know he won't use it. This is like parents who constantly threaten their children and still have the brattiest kids in the neighborhood because the kids have yet to see one threat implemented.
They have to ACT like a majority, but it may require a trip to the add-a-nut-to-me factory.
Word up is the 'rats have never actually filibustered, only threatened to do so.
Let's make them start talkin' nonstop.
They will only lose more ground with thinking Americans.
While procedural games were played to keep Paez' nomination in limbo for over 2 years, it's questionable if this could properly be called a filibuster.
I cannot tell if any cloture votes on his nomination were ever taken and lost by the Democrats until the year 2000. If so, then it should be called a filibuster.
There was the one 2000 cloture vote taken and the possible filibusterers lost it, so a filibuster was never begun because it never got off the ground.
All of the Republican senators would have known that the cluture would be upheld, so Frist's vote against cloture could have been taken for philosophical rather that filibusteral (:>) reasons.
I have yet to see a real fillibuster on this. I guess our republican senators are afraid of having to stay awake for 24-48 hours straight.
I'm sure soldiers are having to do so somewhere right now
under a whole lot worse circumstances.
Congressman BillyBob prefer to call it "the constitutional option" , ..not "nuclear option", it does make better sense... plus "Constitutional Option" really pisses the 'RATS/Liberal Constitutional Lawyers off and they can't *itch much.
Is there any chance that the 'Rats will back down on these filibusters? After all, look what it got Tom Daschle.
Sedition is still a crime in the US code.
<< Geez, [It's] like he's talking to a bunch of kids. >>
It's worse than that.
He is [But a big kid, himself -- and is] talking to a bunch of kids.
We need term limits and the consequential restoration of our beloved FRaternal Reuplic.
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