Posted on 01/08/2003 8:18:41 AM PST by ewing
LATEST ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer will announce this morning that he will filibuster the nomination of Judge Pickering to a place on the US Fifth Court of Appeals.
More to come later today...
Posted at 10:17 AM EST
With examples such as Schumer, and Hitlery! and my own relatives' reports of the continued liberal insanity UPSTATE as well as in Manhattan, I must respectfully differ....
If President Bush and Majority Leader Frist stand their guns, all business in the US Senate will then come to a screeching halt (once the Pickering nomination is on the floor), until a total of 60 Senators vote to end the filibuster. Not all Democrats, and especially the ones facing election in 2004, will go along with this initially.
As the obstruction stops more and more Senate business, of interest to more and more Americans, supporters of the filibuster will peel off. Democrat Senators Miller (Ga.) and Breaux (La.) will not support it from the beginning. Republican squishes like Chafee (R.I.), Blanche Lincoln, and Snowe (Vt.) will support it at the beginning, but will be under pressure to back off.
Even though Schumer is now announcing this publicly, it is about a month before the Pickering nomination will be on the floor. A lot of nose-counting is going to happen in the Senate between now and then. If Schumer doesn't have 40 solid supporters at the beginning, he will be a fool even to begin his filibuster. But even if he begins it, he cannot necessarily sustain it. Both Bush and Frist have much larger bully pulpits to fight it than Schumer has to defend it.
I predict that it won't even begin. But if it does, I predict that it will collapse, and Pickering will be confirmed, within three days. Either way, Schumer winds up with well-deserved egg on his face.
Congressman Billybob
Click for latest column on UPI, "Three Anti-Endorsements" (Not yet on UPI wire, or FR.)
As the politician formerly known as Al Gore has said, my book, "to Restore Trust in America"
Let's hope your predictions come true.
Can anyone fill me in on how it really works now?
Filibusters and Cloture in the SenateSummary
The right of Senators to speak on the floor at great length—and so to filibuster—is the single most defining characteristic of the Senate as a legislative body. The possibility of filibusters derives from the absence of any effective Senate rules that limit the number or length of floor speeches. The Senate’s rules provide that, in most cases, a Senator who seeks recognition has a right to the floor if no other Senator is speaking, and that Senator then may speak for as long as he or she wishes. There is no motion by which a simple majority of the Senate can stop a debate and allow the Senate to vote in favor of an amendment, a bill or resolution, or any other debatable question. Almost every bill actually is subject to two potential filibusters before the Senate votes on whether to pass it: first, a filibuster on a motion to proceed to the bill’s consideration; and second, after the Senate agrees to this motion, a filibuster on the bill itself.
Senate Rule XXII enables Senators to end a filibuster by invoking cloture on whatever debatable matter it is considering. Sixteen Senators initiate this process by presenting a motion to end the debate. The Senate does not vote on this cloture motion until the second day after the day on which the motion is made. Then it usually requires the votes of at least three-fifths of all Senators, or at least 60 votes, to invoke cloture. Invoking cloture on a proposal to amend the Senate’s standing rules requires the support of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting.
The primary effect of invoking cloture on a question is to impose a maximum of 30 additional hours for considering that question. This 30-hour period for consideration encompasses all time consumed by rollcall votes, quorum calls, and other actions, as well as the time used for debate. During this 30-hour period, each Senator may speak for no more than one hour apiece (although several Senators can have additional time yielded to them). Under cloture, the only amendments that Senators can offer are amendments that are germane and that were submitted in writing before the cloture vote took place. The presiding officer also enjoys certain additional powers under cloture: for example, to count to determine whether a quorum is present, and to rule amendments, motions, and other actions out of order on the grounds that they are dilatory.
The ability of Senators to engage in filibusters has a profound and pervasive effect on how the Senate conducts its business on the floor. In the face of a threatened filibuster, for example, the majority leader may decide not to call a bill up for floor consideration, or to defer calling it up if there are other, equally important bills that the Senate can consider and pass without undue delay. Similarly, the prospect of a filibuster can persuade a bill’s proponents to accept changes in the bill that they do not support but that are necessary to prevent the threat of a filibuster from becoming a reality.
In January 2001, the Senate agreed to S.Res. 8, adjusting the Senate’s organization and procedures during the 107 th Congress. Discussions of pertinent provisions of this resolution appear in italics.
Nobody filibusters anymore...they make the threat and everybody scrambles to appease them. I don't think there will be any appeasement this time, at least not in the form of revoking Pickering's nomination. But who knows what Chuckie really wants?
I believe that was a Trent Lott invention, the non-filibuster filibuster.
Frist should make him talk until 9 of his Dem colleagues can't stand it anymore.
An illustration of why we need term limits on Congress is in this question: Could there ever be a classic movie about an honest politician entitled, Mr. Smith Serves His Fourth Term? I rest my case.
Congressman Billybob
Click for latest column on UPI, "Three Anti-Endorsements" (Not yet on UPI wire, or FR.)
As the politician formerly known as Al Gore has said, my book, "to Restore Trust in America"
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