Frist on Alito Floor Action

National Review Online ^ | 1/13/06 | Ed Whelan

[frankjr]

01/13 09:37 PM]

All of what follows is from a press release from Senate majority leader Frist’s office:

“With the continued uncertainty over whether the minority will keep to a timeframe of voting, up or down, on Judge Alito on Friday, January 20, Senator Frist today made the following announcements to his Senate Republican colleagues on an afternoon conference call:

· Whenever the Judiciary Committee reports out the Alito nomination, the full Senate will begin work on the nominee the next business day.

· If Democrats delay final action past January 20th, he will cancel the recess for the week of January 23rd which he had previously scheduled with the knowledge of Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

· Until the Senate votes, up or down, on the Alito nomination, he will not act on any other legislative item.

Frist made the following statement regarding his decision:

"Nothing right now is more key than the Senate voting, up or down, on the nomination of Judge Alito. I will keep the Senate at work and focused on the Alito nomination until we are done. Judge Alito, his family and the American people deserve a prompt and fair up or down vote on the Senate floor. When it comes to any delay in Judge Alito’s nomination, a Justice delayed will not be a Justice denied."

[gidget7]

Can someone help us, we are drawing blanks as to who the 4 libs and the 4 conservative justices are? Eliminating OConnor of course? We can't remember who is the other who votes conservative?? Mental block, and it's driving us nuts.

[NRA2BFree]

And no Happy Hours for Kennedy until a vote.

Did you notice that Kennedy came back late from lunch yesterday? I think he took his Happy Hour then. He sure looked like it. He's so disgusting.

[freedom4me]

"Senator Frist is showing off his newly installed pair of teeny, tiny, minature cojones."

Perhaps the show of cojones by Arlen Specter this week is contagious. We can only hope...

I must say I absolutely loved his smack-down of Teddy. It was a sight to behold.

[K-oneTexas]

Through July 2006.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Frist needs to at the very least start making a senate schedule that is 5 days a week (full days)

Because the western senators face long flights home and back (many go home every weekend), it is customary for Senate business to be conducted mainly from Monday afternoon to Friday morning. Voting is usually restricted to Tuesday-Thursday. To make up for the shorter number of days, both the House and Senate schedule abnormally long workdays, often lasting fifteen hours, with sessions lasting until midnight being very common.

[Txsleuth]

Thank you...I forgot about that...perhaps they need to only go home a couple weeks a month...and get more work done.

They have all of these hearings to try to get Bush...plus, the dems have a tendency to slow-walk all of the bills...that at the end of each session, they end up having this humonous omnibus bill, covering all of these different departments...which is the perfect vehicle to slip in the pork each year...

I watch the Senate and the House whenever they are in session...and believe me...there is a lot of wasted time in both Houses...

[righttackle44]

"Through July 2006."

Thank you.

[El Gato]

Because the western senators face long flights home and back (many go home every weekend)

Screw that. They can work 5 or, during the busy time, 6 10 hour days like folks in private industry who make anywhere near their salary. Many work longer hours than that. Let their reelection campaign do the fund raising, they are being paid to do a job.

OTOH, might be best if they were there for 2 hours on alternate Wednesdays, if they aren't there, they can't be messing stuff up.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Can someone help us, we are drawing blanks as to who the 4 libs and the 4 conservative justices are?

Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are, with Rehnquist's passing, the only two reliably conservative justices. Kennedy and O'Connor often joined with those three to win cases 5-4, but increasingly these two have begun wandering into the liberals' clutches. John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are the two most liberal, followed by David Souter and Steven Breyer. Chief Justice Roberts has not yet established a voting record.

If I were to rank them subjectively from most conservative to most liberal:
Scalia & Thomas
Kennedy & O'Connor
Breyer
Souter
Stevens & Ginsburg

Interestingly, I think I've noted the emergence recently of unusual new voting patterns. We're seeing (I think) new coalitions springing up more readily, case-by-case. But then earlier this week in a case there were the four liberals in the minority against the other five (with Roberts in the majority), just like old times.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"(many go home every weekend),"

How many do? I'm very curious about that, because I'll bet it's not 'many'. These senators build their lives around the D.C. social life, and that doesn't happen between Tuesday and Thursday.

[aShepard]

Memo to our fellow UN Delegates:

"When it comes to any delay in Judge Alito’s nomination, a Justice delayed will not be a Justice denied."

Now if you guys don't comply, I'll have to start crying, and you certainly don't want to see that!

Sen Frist!

[Hebrews 11:6]

As an additional comment in responding to your query, consider who replaces whom on the Court. The Dems didn't object strenuously to Roberts' supposed conservatism, because he was replacing the conservative Rehnquist. But O'Connor, as a centrist, voted with the liberals often enough, especially on abortion, that the Dems don't want a conservative replacing her and thus making the court more conservative. That is what frustrates them about Alito.

Presuming that the aged octogenerian liberal Stevens is likely to retire or die soon, Bush's nomination of another conservative to replace him would make the Court 6-3 in favor of conservatives. Of course, since Kennedy is weakening, it would really be 5 1/2 to 3 1/2, but that's the point: Kennedy voting with the libs would no longer matter if there were five reliable conservatives. That is the nightmare scenario for the Dems, the party that couldn't prevail legislatively so they relied on judicial activism; once they lose that, they're completely without power.

[Chuck54]

Excellent. UNeesians huh?

The article you penned is almost a year old yet you seemed to forecast with precision. The Democratic Party is not yet on life support, but oxygen is sorely needed. Your reasoning is almost flawless and some would disagree on various points. Great history lesson too.

I was born and raised in the deep south, son of a school teacher and construction worker. I can remember vividly the forced school busing and the ensuing problems.

Integration was an issue, and was fought by many, but the forced busing and the dissolvement of neighborhood schools was the beginning of the end for all we held dearly.

Thanks for the link.

[gidget7]

Thank you! Kennedy is indeed the one. I couldn't remember........ if he was conservative or lib, but your explanation was exactly what I was looking for!! :)

[Nasher]

"Scalia & Thomas
Kennedy & O'Connor
Breyer
Souter
Stevens & Ginsburg"

Hopefully this will soon change to:

Scalia & Thomas & Roberts & Alito
Kennedy
Breyer
Souter
Stevens & Ginsburg

Also great that the next 2 likely spots to be filled are the bottom 2 on the list (Stevens and Ginsberg)

What could it look like then?

Scalia & Thomas & Roberts & Alito & GWB appt#3 & GWB appt#4
Kennedy
Breyer
Souter

OH MY :D

[Hebrews 11:6]

Also, see post #72.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Also, see post #72.

[gidget7]

I did, was thanking you for both! Can you imagine the Dems if that happens?? They are imploding as it is!! Ahhhhhhhhh the glory!!

[frankjr]

"He makes Bob Square Pants seem like the Terminator."

Maybe more like MuscleBob Buffpants this time?

He has muscles on his muscles.

He has muscles on his muscles.

[Nasher]

Just goes to show how important this past election was.

If sKerry would have somehow won (Thank you God for not letting this happen), It would have been Scalia & Thomas all alone. I'm sure Stevens and Ginsberg would have joined O'Connor in resigning before 2008.

The scorecard being: 1 conservative, 1 moderate, 2 liberals being replaced by 4 libs. :shudder