Maybe the RATS are figuring out the American people are fed up with their obstructionist BS?Maybe?
Posted on 05/26/2005 2:26:15 PM PDT by ambrose
Two Bush Nominees Get Panel's Quick OK
- By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 26, 2005
(05-26) 12:15 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Two of President Bush's blocked judicial nominees, cleared for confirmation by this week's Senate compromise on filibusters, gained quick approval Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The nominations of Richard Griffin and David McKeague for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati were approved by voice vote in the committee without debate. The nominees now move to the full Senate for confirmation votes.
Democrats had been blocking Griffin and McKeague at the request of Michigan's two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. But they agreed not to hold up the nominations anymore as part of the discussion over the use of judicial filibusters.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This deal should be judged by actual results, not by falsified quotes.
Piece of cake...the real test follows this fall when the first Supreme Court nominee's name hits the Senate floor. Poised and ready...lock and load for the Dems...
Yep. But the question this leaves is what about Boyle and Kavanaugh?
I suspect the answer is there was a side agreement on these two Michigan judges so with the holds off they are jointly sent up.
I expect/hope Boyle and Kavanaugh were not stalled just a topic for another day.
Maybe the RATS are figuring out the American people are fed up with their obstructionist BS?Maybe?
Hear, hear!
-Regards, T.
So this deal....
Can't the republicans just nuke the filibuster after they get the nod on these 2 judges? Then get an up and down vote on the 2 judges that weren't part of the deal?
This is much more significant than you people are indicating.
These two conservative judges will alter the balance of power in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In that regard, it's much more significant than Owen going to the 5th or Pryor going to the 11th- those were already strongly conservative courts.
And I have to say this much for the fillibuster deal- the nuclear option would not have allowed these 2 judges to be confirmed because they were being held by the blue slip exercised by 2 Democratic senators- not by fillibuster.
So this is one way in which the deal actually produced BETTER results than the nuclear option. With the nuclear option, these 2 judges would still be stalled by the blue slip.
I hate what the 7 dwarves did, but I have to be honest about the results of this particular committee action.
bttt
Thanks for the info!
But when the senate (or house) makes a deal like this is there anything binding either side to it?
What's a blue slip?
"But when the senate (or house) makes a deal like this is there anything binding either side to it?"
Just the discretion of those who agreed to the deal. Hopefully, we can put enough heat on Graham and Dewine that they back out the first chance the Dems mention the word fillibuster.
But I REALLY like the fact that we are going to get these Michigan judges confirmed. And they WILL be confirmed, since the blue slip - keeping them out of committee- was the hold-up there.
Confirmed judges is money in the bank- even if the deal falls apart tomorrow, the 6th circuit is now a solidly conservative court. And the 6th is the one that produced that horrible Michigan affirmative action decision with the bare liberal majority. Wouldn't happen today- I am pleased.
"What's a blue slip?"
If two senators from a given state (I think two is required now- at various times it's been only one required) object to a judge from their state, that judge never sees the light of the Judiciary Committee. A senator's making that objection is called using the "blue slip."
It's a real problem in places like California or Michigan with 2 democratic Senators. Bush really has to curry favor with them in advance and he'll usually have to nominate more moderate Republicans than he would otherwise.
The deal was made so we would "perceive" that if everyone works together, something will happen. What really happened was the Dems decided: "How the hell are we going to get out of what we started?"...which is killing our bases. IMHO
This passin of the Nominees is living proof that the whole thing was a power play in the first place. The Dems wanted to test the waters on the Supreme Court Nominees , Now they know who they can buy and how much it costs. It proves that there was no reason to block niminees except the Washington Dem game.
There is a commission that recommends judges in CA. We've had some real lightweights come out of that process.
The blue slip is a tradition, not a rule such as 60 votes for cloture, and it is even more undemocratic than the filibuster. I can't believe that the Senate Judiciary Committee in which the GOP has a 2-vote advantage would refrain from voting a judicial nominee to the floor merely because two liberals from Michigan object that Bush didn't nominate a young John Conyers. If we had Jon Kyl as Chairman instead of Arlen Specter, Kyl would tell Levin and Stabenow where they can stick their blue slips.
And if the GOP needs to betray Henry Saad (a third judge being blocked by Stabenow and Levin) just so that two judges who weren't even being filibustered can get a vote, then the Senate is in even worse shape than I thought.
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