So given this disarmament on the filibuster and the assurance of fair up or down votes on nominees, there is no need at present for the constitutional option.
But with this agreement, all options remain on the table , including the constitutional option. If it had been necessary to deploy the constitutional option, it would have been successful, and the Senate would have by rule returned to the precedent of the past 214 years. Instead, tonight, members have agreed that this precedent of up or down votes should be a norm of behavior as the result of mutual trust and goodwill in that agreement.
I of course will monitor this agreement carefully as we move ahead to fill the pending 46 vacancies on the Federal bench today, and other vacancies that may yet arise during this Congress.
I have made it clear from the outset that I haven’t wanted to use the constitutional option, I do not want to use the constitutional option, but bad faith and return to bad behavior during my tenure as Majority Leader will bring the Senate back to the point where all 100 members will be asked to decide whether judicial nominees deserve a fair up or down vote. And I will not hesitate to call all members to their duty if necessary.
Bottom line. The agreement assumes the dims good behavior -- which we all know won't last very long. So the next time they start going down the obstructionist road -- which they will -- the RINOs will look really, really, really bad for placing their trust in them in the first place.
Sen. Frist, as he stated, is not part of this deal and reserves the right to the constitutional option should the occasion arise in the future.
As of now, there is no need to go that route as Owen, Pryor and Brown will now pass the Senate. The ball is moving in our favor.
As for the other nominees, no one knows what will happen yet. For all we know tonight, they may all get nominated.
So stop acting like cry babies, and have the patience to see how all of this will play out.
Empty words and I'm sure the dims are getting a good chuckle as they read them tonight
I agree with you. I'm definately not part of the itchy mouse finger contingent on FR that screams betrayal on every thread.
I think this day was significantly worse than you acknowledged in your post. But, for me, there was one happy ray of light. Since Senator Frist was going to be the first one to speak in the Senate, Dingy Harry rushed out to the first camera he could find so he could speak first. He brought along with him three of the four most vicious and corrupt character assasins in the Senate, Schumer, Boxer, and Durbin. They came in smiling and claiming victory. But that didn't last long--while Reid continued to act relieved, Boxer, Schumer and Durbin just could not pull off the act. Their faces morphed into pictures of depression you might find in a psychriatic textbook. This may have been a bad day for us but for them it was a total disaster. The three nominees that they clearly detested most were going to have a cakewalk to their judgeships. They had spent month after month of demonizing the three nominees--ever more vicious from one day to the next. We were not winners today but we still could enjoy their severe pain. I'm sure I didn't look anywhere near as depressed as they did. For the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party, it was a very bad day.