We have a winner!!!
Click on the detestable KKK Byrd below:
Posted on 03/02/2005 5:16:19 AM PST by OXENinFLA
We have a winner!!!
Click on the detestable KKK Byrd below:
The old coot, Byrd, apparently has more balls than all the Republicans.
Mr. Byrd seems to have forgotten that at the end of that debate there should be a vote. Debate is not an end unto itself, it serves a purpose. That purpose is to delineate the pros and cons so each Senator can make up his mind as to how to vote. To use endless debate to prevent a vote is stifling the will of the people, but then I suppose that is the true end as seen by Mr. Byrd. His self-righteous indignation is ludicrous and so transparent as to be laughable. He is an old man who has lost sight of his duty, a sad sight.
Byrd flu.........
EXcellent comment.
Remember the 39hrs. of Debate on Judicial Nominations ?
Remember how little the dems actually talked about judges?
Hitler never asked for a casualties list. I wonder if Byrd ever asked those he recruited for the Klan how many Black people they killed?
Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner in the "develop a nickname for Byrd" Contest! Do you mind if I start using that?
That's because you and I are not as smart and enlightened as the unelected judges who have special powers to see them. :)
The Filibuster
by Ronald D. Rotunda
Ronald Rotunda, author, and law professor at George Mason University, is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute.
The filibuster has a long history, but its pedigree should not make us proud. It prevented civil rights legislation from being adopted for nearly a century. Now a minority of senators is using it to prevent the Senate from voting on judicial nominees even though a majority of the senators from both parties would vote to confirm if they only could vote.
The modern filibuster is much more powerful than its historical predecessor because it is invisible: The Senate rules do not require any senator to actually hold the floor to filibuster. Instead, a minority of 41 senators simply notifies the Senate leadership of its intent to filibuster. Other Senate business goes on, but a vote on a particular issue -- a nomination -- cannot be brought to a vote. The present Senate rules that create the filibuster also do not allow the Senate to change the filibuster rules unless 67 senators agree. However, these rules should not bind the present Senate any more than a statute that says that it cannot be repealed until 67 percent of the Senate votes to repeal the statute. An earlier Senate cannot bind a present Senate on this issue.
The Senate, unlike the House, is often called a continuing body because only one-third of its members are elected every two years. But that does not give the senators of a prior generation (some of whom were defeated in prior elections) the right to prevent the present Senate from choosing, by simple majority, the rules governing its procedure. For purposes of deciding which rules to follow, the Senate starts anew every two years.
It is easy to make this point by looking at simple logic and history.
If a prior Senate can bind a later Senate, that would mean that the prior Senate could, by mere rule, impose what amounts to an important amendment to the Constitution regarding the number of votes needed to confirm a nominee. The Senate cannot change the number of votes needed to confirm a nominee any more than it can properly change the number of votes necessary for consenting to the ratification of a treaty from two-thirds to 75 percent or 51 percent.
Recall that Senator James Jeffords became an independent after the 2000 election. That shifted control of the Senate from Republicans to Democrats. The new Senate then reorganized itself, changed committee staff, and so on. However, if a prior Senate can really bind the present Senate, then an earlier Senate could have passed a rule that prevents reorganizing the Senate. We all know that such an effort would be as outrageous as the Federalist Party (which lost in the election of 1800) continuing to control the Senate and decide committee ratios, staff allocations, etc., as long as 34 percent of the Senate remained Federalist.
One might respond: But that would mean that the Senate could not vote on anything while there was a filibuster going on. Ah, but as mentioned above, the Senate rules do not require any senator to actually take the floor to speak: Senators simply notify the Senate leadership of the plan to filibuster on a particular bill or nomination and that kills it dead in its tracks. Or, think of it this way: What if the prior Senate (before the most recent election that shifted control to the Republicans) used its rule-making power to provide that judicial appointments require 75 percent or even unanimous consent, and that the Senate could not change that rule except by a two-thirds majority? Surely, no one would argue that the prior Senate could prevent the present Senate from changing that rule. Filibusters cannot be used to prevent changes in the rules that govern filibusters.
The present Senate rules are no more sacrosanct than a statute. If the president signs a law, it remains in effect until the House and Senate repeal it and the president signs the repealing legislation. The prior law cannot provide that it remains law unless 67 percent of the senators approve the repeal. Similarly, a Senate rule remains in effect only until a majority of the Senate changes that rule. The prior rule cannot provide that it remains law unless 67 percent of the senators approve the repeal, but that is what the Senate rules now provide.
Precedent also supports this principle. In 1975 the Senators changed the filibuster requirement from 67 votes to 60, after concluding that it only takes a simple majority of Senators to change the rules governing their proceedings. As Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) said at the time: "We cannot allow a minority" of the senators "to grab the Senate by the throat and hold it there." Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Byrd, and Biden, all agreed. Nearly a decade ago, Lloyd Cutler, the former White House Counsel to Presidents Carter and Clinton, concluded that the Senate Rule requiring a super-majority vote to change the rule is "plainly unconstitutional."
That was then. Now, a minority of senators once again claims that the Senate cannot change it rules to prevent this filibuster unless a super-majority agree. That is wrong. To paraphrase Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, to vote without debate is unwise, but to debate without even being able to vote is ridiculous.
The Senate never meant to be popularly elected.
You said: How odd that Senator Byrd fails to mention that in 1975 he voted (as part of a simple majority) to change the filibuster requirement from 67 votes to 60.
Thank you for that information. Senator Byrd also neglects to mention that modern "filibusters" do not include ANY real debate, rather, they are used to stifle votes and debate, clearly contrary to his stated point (but not his actual intent) that debate should be paramount in the workings of the Senate.
The irony. When it was about Gore, it was all about the majority vote. All of a sudden, the democrats discovered state's rights. Amazing.
See the second last paragraph of the linked article for more info:
http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-16-03.html
Granted, emmanations and penumbras are difficult to spot. Perhaps some special glasses would help. They would have a piece of duct tape over any part of the lens that permitted viewing of plain language.
What an old fraud. He is the one trying to Muzzle the Vote . He is the one trying to obstruct the will of the majority of the senators.
That's probably what happenned when they first discovered penumbras and emantions. The supremes had these glasses secretly developed to see them better.
Only someone as senile as this old f@rt would consider a filibuster (monopoly of the Senate Floor) "debate". When will this pompous shaky old racist move on?
Bobby was then in his fifteenth term as WV's senator, so I guess he knows all about it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.