Chafee: Filibuster of Alito doomed

The senator has not said whether he will vote to confirm the Supreme Court nominee, but says he will vote to break any stall tactic by Democrats.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, under pressure as one of the last senators undecided on Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s fitness for the Supreme Court, has committed himself to help fellow Republicans break a last-ditch Democratic filibuster of the nomination.

But with the conservative Alito likely to be seated on the high court as soon as Tuesday, Chafee's stance has drawn attacks from his opponents in both parties, underlining the incumbent's dilemma on difficult Senate votes in this election year.

Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse says he sees "political pressure" at work on Chafee, who said during his 2000 Senate campaign that he would not vote for a nominee who did not pledge to affirm the landmark Supreme Court decision -- Roe v. Wade -- that legalized abortion.

Chafee is "trying to find a way out, between his promise on the one hand, and the pressure from his leadership on the other," said Whitehouse, a former attorney general, referring to the Senate Republican leaders who have made Chafee's reelection a top priority.

Republican challenger Stephen P. Laffey said, "The sad thing is, Mr. Chafee has made himself irrelevant to the process." Chafee is still on the fence as the nomination moves toward a full Senate vote, so Republicans "have got enough votes to confirm with him, and they've got enough votes to confirm without him," said Laffey, the mayor of Cranston. "What specific information is he waiting for?"

Where the senator's opponents depicted indecision, Chafee spokesman Stephen Hourahan portrayed a deliberate approach to the Alito vote. "He has taken a long time to do due diligence," Hourahan said. Through Hourahan, Chafee declined to answer the commentary from his challengers.

Sen. Jack Reed announced his opposition to Alito's confirmation earlier this week.

Chafee, who disappointed abortion-rights supporters by voting to seat Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in September, has hinted that he might hold Alito to a tougher standard on that issue.

Chafee has noted that whereas Roberts replaced an abortion opponent, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Alito would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has often cast the swing vote in narrow rulings against restrictions on abortion. Alito's record on the appeals court leaves "no doubt" that he would move the court to the right on abortion, Chafee said in November.

Through the confirmation process, Senate Democrats and liberal interest groups have been frustrated in their efforts to ignite opposition to Alito, 55, a New Jersey native who has served on a Pennsylvania-based federal appeals court since 1990.

On Thursday, however, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry announced plans to lead a filibuster against Alito's nomination, despite the lack of a united Democratic front behind the delaying tactic.

A Senate vote to shut off the filibuster is set for Monday, with the vote on Alito's confirmation slated for Tuesday. Chafee has long signaled his worry that a filibuster against Alito would gridlock the Senate. Hourahan reaffirmed Thursday that the senator would join fellow Republicans in voting to shut off debate. Yesterday leaders of both parties said the Republicans would get more than the 60 votes needed to do so.

Whitehouse and Secretary of State Matt Brown, another Democratic candidate for the Senate, said that Chafee's position on the filibuster was a form of support for Alito and therefore contradicted his 2000 campaign pledge on abortion rights.

Laffey, charging that Chafee is simply trying to appease the Republicans, questioned whether Chafee would "knuckle under to pressure from the extremist groups" that oppose such restrictions as requiring girls to tell parents when they plan to get abortions. Laffey portrays himself as personally opposed to abortion but reconciled to the fact that legal abortion is a settled issue.

"Another Gang of 14 member on board to help end the filibuster. Does anyone have a list of all gang members committed to stopping the filibuster?"

Don't have a list of those who are committed to stopping filibuter, but here is the gang (from one of your posts, Cboldt). The only ones that I could see voting no on cloture from the list below might be Inouye, and that's just because I don't know that much about him. Landrieu and/or Salazar might if the Dims pressure them enough, though they both stated the other day that they would vote no to confirm and yes on cloture. IMHO, Salazar would get blasted at home as CO has a lot of Pubbies and he barely won over Coors. Landrieu might not vote to confirm, but I think she needs to be careful about voting no on cloture, because she wants $s for LA for Katrina. Pryor said he would not support a filibuster.

Also, according to a poll on Rasmussen, people in AR (Pryor), CO (Salazar), CT (Lieberman), and WV (Byrd) support the confirmation. That said, as of last Nov, so did people in WA, but my 2 bimbo senators are useless, in fact, I read last night that when a WA FReeper called Cant-do-well's office, they said she hadn't made up her mind and was meeting w Alito on Monday - -what the heck for, except to stall (and, she's up for election this year)!!!

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/January%20Dailies/Alito%20Confirmation%20by%20State.htm

A. Future Nominations. 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.

E. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE)
Joe Lieberman (D-CT)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
John Warner (R-VA)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI)

http://www.nationalreview.com/pdf/compromise.pdf
10 posted on 01/27/2006 1:06:16 PM PST by Cboldt

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1566404/replies?c=4

Gang-of-14 Positions Relating to Alito Filibuster.

Caveat: I took an announced vote FOR the nominee to be a postition against filibuster, to narrow the search. Seven of the fourteen have announced being FOR the nominee.

Of the remaining seven, three are against filibuster. That leaves a maximum of four Gang-of-14 Senators being willing to cast a vote for filibuster. None of them has expressed an intention to vote for the filibuster.

The anti-filibuster vote is 59, by adding Chaffee, Landrieu and Pryor to the 56 AYE votes for the nominee. In order to defeat the cloture motion, the DEMs have to get all four of the "NONCOMMITAL on filibuster" below (Inouye, Lieberman, Salazar and Snowe). That would clearly signal the death of "extraordinary circumstances," and would validate the use of the nuclear option.

But even getting all four of the "NONCOMMITAL on filibuster" from the Gang-of-14 wouldn't be enough to sustain a defeat of the cloture motion.

Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) - NONCOMMITAL on filibuster - AGAINST the nominee

Joe Lieberman (D-CT) - NONCOMMITAL on filibuster - AGAINST the nominee
http://lieberman.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=250808

Ken Salazar (D-CO) - NONCOMMITAL on filibuster - AGAINST the nominee
http://salazar.senate.gov/news/releases/060119alito.htm

Olympia Snowe (R-ME) - NONCOMMITAL on filibuster & the nominee
Her voicemail box (202.224.5344) is currently "full." LOL.

Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) - Against Filibuster - Noncommital on the nominee.
Chafee has long signaled his worry that a filibuster against Alito would gridlock the Senate. Hourahan reaffirmed Thursday that the senator would join fellow Republicans in voting to shut off debate.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1566755/posts

Mary Landrieu (D-LA) - Against filibuster - Noncommital on the nominee.
"Because we have such a full plate of pressing issues before Congress, a filibuster at this time would be, in my view, very counterproductive. It is imperative that we remain focused on creating the tools New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast will need to rebuild. This includes passing the Baker bill and allowing our state to keep its fair share of offshore energy revenues. We simply cannot afford to bring the Senate to a halt at a time when we need its action the most. If called to vote for cloture on Judge Alito's nomination, I will vote yes.

"I will continue to consult with constituents, groups, organizations and colleagues to decide on my final vote. I do think it is important that we have an up or down vote."
http://landrieu.senate.gov/scotus/alito2.cfm

Mark Pryor (D-AR) - Against filibuster - AGAINST the nominee
He added, without prompting, that he did not support a filibuster against Alito because "one is not warranted."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1566420/posts

E. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
John McCain (R-AZ) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
Mike DeWine (R-OH) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
John Warner (R-VA) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
Robert Byrd (D-WV) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
Susan Collins (R-ME) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) - Against filibuster - FOR the nominee

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