Posted on 05/24/2005 6:10:15 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The "memorandum of understanding" signed by 14 Senators Monday evening says they have agreed to invoke cloture (cut off debate) on three of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees ( Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor), but the "[s]ignatories make no commitment to vote for or against cloture" on William Myers or Henry Saad.
The latter two nominees will still be blocked, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid later said.
As for future judicial nominations -- those involving the U.S. Supreme Court, for example -- it's a judgment call:
"Signatories will exercise their responsibilities under the advice and consent clause of the United States Constitution in good faith. Nominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances, and each signatory must use his or her own discretion and judgment in determining whether such circumstances exist."
In the second half of the memo, the 14 senators agreed to oppose a rules change (an end to judicial filibusters) in the 109th Congress.
... and just what would those extraordinary circumstances be?
Biden, Del.; Boxer, Calif.; Cantwell, Wash.; Corzine, N.J.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Feingold, Wis.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Levin, Mich.; Lincoln, Ark.; Murray, Wash.; Reed, R.I.; Sarbanes, Md.; Stabenow, Mich. voted not to cut off debate on the nominees.
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