CNN: HARRIET MIERS HAS WITHDRAWN!

[SoFloFreeper]

just breaking!!!!!!!!

[betty boop]

There are republicans, too many of them, who will jump ship if it comes to a nuclear option vote. The nominee will then fail.... I think we need to walk down that road to prove that point.

I think you are exactly right about that, xzins, and the Senate shall virtually certainly provide that demonstration/object lesson soon enough. If anything, not a few of those guys are trying to distance themselves from the President in the run-up to next year's elections. They would prefer to campaign on local, not national issues -- at least, that is what I'm hearing right now.

I have a modest proposal, since it is clear to me that the "nuclear option" likely would not survive the caving of "our own people" in the Gang of Fourteen. My modest proposal is pretty simple, really: If the Dems want to filibuster the President's next "controversial" nominee (and all the President's nominees are "controversial," doncha know?), let 'em do it; but make 'em do it "the old-fashioned way."

That is, restore the original Senate rule regarding the filibuster: It must be done around-the-clock, with no "time-outs" or breaks. The floor must be continually held 24/7 in order to keep the filibuster alive. You've seen the "old-fashioned filibuster" if you ever saw Jimmy Stewart's great movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I wonder how many senators on either side of the aisle would be up for something like this. Which is why it could be a most useful rules change. Might improve the level of seriousness and self-discipline over there.

[ohioWfan]

You don't believe in the President's constitutional right to select a SC nominee.

That's says all that needs to be said about you.

[AmishDude]

Bush was willing to release documents a few days ago. I'm spinning nothing and I hope you are not comparing one thread to others based on your vaaaaaast experience posting at Free Republic.

[SunStar]

Just remember most of the people who opposed Miers were the same who opposed Roberts and oppose everything the Preisdent does.

Nope. Not true. Roberts was incredibly qualified and knowledgeable on Constitutional law. Meiers wasn't. If you're too stupid to see that, well, I guess that's your problem.

[Republic of Texas]

Fine - big league play also gave us a Kennedy, Souter, and O'Connor in the first place, so be careful what you wish for.

The "big leagues" did not "give us" those people, WE did. People get the government they DESERVE. In those cases, we, the people, did not have very high standards, and got what we paid for.

I wish we would have higher standards, and not nominate people because they don't anger our enemies. Our enemies want to destroy us and the Constitution. When they are angry, we are on the right track.

[Mo1]

Christians have been the strongest supporters of the Conservative movement, getting out and working the phones and going door to door. It is unwise for others to deliberately alienate us by ridiculing what we stand for and who we are.

Yes, they have been strong supporters

It's the far right that is attempting to split the party ... they are not the base

[AmishDude]

The problem is that the rules of the Senate are such that 50 opposing Senators have to be on hand to make a filibuster like that work.

So if it were a genuine filibuster by one Senator, it works. But if we force the Dems to be there, we have to stay there too. And I'm sure there are at least 6 Republicans whose health would not allow them to stay in the chamber for a few days.

[Siena Dreaming]

So every christian is a zealot? Man, you may think you're smart, but you still have a lot to learn.

I think you better stop thinking of God as a "grandfatherly gentleman in sky" and rather consider that he is also a extremely harsh judge who has ALL power and can snap you in two in one millisecond.

Go ahead and enjoy your two seconds here, but you better think about what's coming after that.

[Diplomat]

They are ALL missing the point. The President had the Constitutional right to nominate her, and she had the right to be heard.

Of course he did. But the presidents supporters also reserved the right to say "we're made as hell and we're not going to take it anymore." It appears he heard us.

If he wants to further fracture his party, he'll nominate Gonzales. Screwing conservatives at the behest of rino's and liberals is why the court is such a mess to begin with. No more "TRUST ME" non-sense. This is the single issue so many of his foot soldiers truly care about above all other issues. Meirs selection was an abject betrayal of us and all the hard work we put in to elect president Bush.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the excellent suggestion! Indeed, if they want to filibuster, make them do it the old fashioned way.

[Republic of Texas]

You don't believe in the President's constitutional right to select a SC nominee. That's says all that needs to be said about you. <

Does that trump our Constitutional right to voice our opinions? He selected who he wanted. We said what we wanted. She was going to have a hearing to say what she wanted. It sounds like the process was working just fine, until she quit.

[clawrence3]

What if it is Luttig, and after the nuclear option he gets confirmed, and turns out to be worse than Souter? Then you'll be thinking Miers would not have been so bad.

[Cboldt]

I find it odd, however, that the Federation of American Scientists maintains that report.

Yeah. It is an odd repository. I haven't done a google or other search on "RL31171," but sometimes the Congressional Research Service stuff appears at government websites as well as at fas.

I have a great collection of CRS "articles" that relate to the process of judicial nomnimation and confirmation, with a focus on cloture abuse and other filibuster techniques used in the Senate.

RS20801 - December 11, 2002 - Cloture Attempts on Nominations
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS20801.pdf

RL30360 - March 28, 2003 - Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate
http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30360.pdf

RL32843 - March 28, 2005- "Entrenchment" of Senate Procedure and the "Nuclear" Option
http://www.afj.org/judicial/crsnuclear.pdf

RL31948 - March 29, 2005 - Evolution of Senate's Role in Nomination/Confirmation
http://shelby.senate.gov/legislation/JudNom-History.pdf

RL32684 - April 5, 2005 - Changing Senate Rules - The "Nuclear" Option
http://www.andrewhyman.com/crs.pdf

RL31635 - February 23, 2004 - Judicial Nomination Statistics http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL31635.pdf

RL32149 - [ Can't find an Online Source ]

[mosquitobite]

Wonderful advice!!! :D Love it!

[Petronski]

I always celebrate when "America Dodges a Bullet." And I am a real conservative . . . a pro-life Reagan conservative.



I have no interest in seeing this woman destroyed. (I haven't engaged in personal attacks on her, and I've criticized the bizarre vitriol oozing from both sides during this sorry episode.) But she does not belong on the Court and should not be acceptable to conservatives.

[Semper Paratus]

Wouldn't you bet that if Ted did get on the Supreme Court...the ACLU would say he would have to recuse himself...

Hope so. Let them appeal it to SCOTUS.

[Wolfstar]

Like Coulter, I attended a top law school, did well, made the law review, and clerked for a federal appellate judge.

Good for you. I bow before your blinding light.

Speaking of which, I see the wonderfulness of your legal education is reflected in this statement: "A much stronger argument can be made that the Miers' supporters were anti-intellectual than that the anti-Miers' folks were elitist."

Anti-intellectual? Good Lord, but the whole anti-Miers argument was centered on her supposed lack of an intellect and lack of an intellectually grounded judicial "philosophy." It was and remains dishonest. What the anti-Miers people want is someone with a public record that is demonstrably hard Right. They want someone on the court who will not only vote what they consider to be the right way, but who can articulate their arguments in written opinions.

That's fine. It's what the political process is all about. What I can't abide is the lie that Ms. Miers was not qualified when the Constitution, itself, is silent on the matter of judicial qualifications, and when many former SCOTUS justices had comparable resumes to Ms. Miers.

[ohioWfan]

And I am afraid that they think they have succeeded now, Mo.

You know how much some of these 'conservatives' hate the Republican party and all of us in it. It doesn't matter that we are conservatives. If we are Republicans, they despise us.

I am going to pray harder than ever for President Bush now. He needs protection, not only from the left, but from these angry, spiteful extremists who now think they've beaten him.

None of this is good for America.

[AmishDude]

It's the far right that is attempting to split the party ... they are not the base

It really isn't the "far right" per se. It's everybody who has ever opposed Bush for any reason at all. Buchananites, disgruntled employees (Fund, Chavez, Kristol) as well as the immigration fetishists who just want to strike a blow at the president.