Posted on 02/28/2003 5:57:59 PM PST by TLBSHOW
I am more frosted at the Democrats for what they're doing to the Constitution vis-à-vis Miguel Estrada's than I am over the anti-war movement. Fox News reported that the GOP planned to call for a cloture vote on Estrada next week knowing they'd lose it. That would effectively amend the Constitution - illegally - to read that you need 60 votes instead of 51 to get a judicial nomination through.
Happily, it turns out the GOP isn't going to call such a vote. The offices of Senators Santorum and Hatch rang up my office on Friday, and said that the Fox story is not accurate. There will be no cloture vote. Hooray! If these Democrats want to filibuster the first Hispanic nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court, let them do it! I know they say there are new rules making a filibuster harder, but so what? And don't tell me that it's not "practical" anymore, because people have to go to the bathroom. That's nothing new.
Force them to get out there and filibuster this eminently qualified man, as rated unanimously by the American Bar Association. Miguel Estrada is just a name to us, but his life is being destroyed here. It's not because he's unqualified; it's because Democrats don't like how he might think. Read George Will's column. Chuck Schumer didn't bother to ask Estrada a single question. He claims not to know any less qualified judge, when in fact he knows less qualified judges who went to the Supreme Court! Just this week, President Bush pledged to stand by Estrada until he was sworn in. We know no other nominee has been asked to give nor should give opinions on issues that may come before the court. Their job is to apply the law, not to make law or let their opinions get in the way of rulings.
These senators have to back Bush and Estrada up. The Democrat attitude is, "We ran Washington for 40 years up until 1994, and Bush is illegitimate despite what the Constitution says about the Electoral College, so he has no right to appoint anyone." These people are treating the Constitution like toilet paper. Calling a cloture vote would overturn more than two centuries of Senate precedent and rewrite the constitutional definition of "advise and consent." We cannot allow that to happen. You have to care about this, folks!
These people aren't Democrats or liberals. They don't believe in the Constitution. They don't believe in individual rights, as affirmed in the 9th Amendment; in sharing power with the states, as described in the 10th Amendment; in free political speech protected in the 1st Amendment and shredded in campaign finance reform. They don't support the right to bear arms provided for in the 2nd Amendment. They don't respect private property rights protected by the 5th Amendment! If there's a blade of grass in the backyard, they call it "wetlands" and take it away! This assault must stop.
Listen to Rush...
(...react to the Fox News story, and reject the notion of a cloture vote by the GOP) (...demand Democrats be made to pay a price for shredding the Constitution)
Read More of Rush's Estrada Coverage (Rush On A Roll: Anatomy of a Smear) (Rush On A Roll: Want Estrada? Declare Linda Daschle DOA) (The Limbaugh Library: Ken Starr Tips Us Off on Estrada) (EIB A-B: Estrada Qualifications Blow Away Breyer and Ginsburg)
Read the Questionable Fox News Article...
(FoxNews: Republicans Seek to End Debate on Estrada)
Read the George Will Column on Estrada...
(Washington Post: Coup Against the Constitution - George F. Will)
I don't see why that should make any difference. The Senate was there using the same constitutional advice-and-consent power that is at work in the Estrada matter. If it's legally wrong to filibuster Estrada's appointment as circuit court judge, I do not see why the filibuster of Fortas's elevation was not equally illegal.
"Never get in your enemy's way while he is busy destroying himself." - - Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
To: justshe I apologized for going by the fox story as written last night for part of my opinion, but they cleared it up today.
*snip*
129 posted on 02/28/2003 10:12 PM PST by TLBSHOW
Conversely, someone not on the court being blocked for appointment to a court, and someone on a court being refused leadership of the court but still staying on the court.
-PJ
"Filibuster" isn't even a legal term. It doesn't appear in the Senate rules. It's a colloquial term. So there's no way to decide, as a legal matter, whether what has happened or is happening is accurately called a "filibuster."
But, whatever we call it, if the DemocRATs succeed in blocking Estrada's appointment, they will have successfully set a precedent (actually a further precedent, after Fortas) that, where a party is willing to use all its power, 60 Senate votes are needed for the confirmation of a judge. It's that (further) precedent that we ought to want to stop, and it seems to me a cloture vote is a way to try to stop it.
LOL.... Well I can't find that damn TURNIP TRUCK that came by the forum and made a deposit. If I could I'd sabotage it so no one else would fall off.
-PJ
Who are you referring to here?
(I can guess, but why don't you state clearly so we can all see)
Nobody's trying to shut down any discussion; we're just trying to counter all the fraudulent reports you post.
If I were you, I wouldn't be insinuating that others are trying to do harm to this presidency. We've all seen your very words in regard to George W. Bush.
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