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Sen. Hatch Explodes at Dems Over Filibuster
NewsMax.com ^ | 2/12/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 02/13/2003 11:51:59 AM PST by kattracks

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To: jpl
Posted By jpl:
"I don't believe this tactic should be resorted to unless a nominee has something that is so egregious in nature as to render them beyond the pale."


For Democrats, simply being a conservative is "so egregious in nature as to render them beyond the pale".
21 posted on 02/13/2003 12:19:23 PM PST by The_Macallan
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To: kattracks
He also said that blocking Estrada's nomination smacked of racism.

Wrong. It is mouth-breathing, spittle-spraying, cross-burning, whip-cracking, lynch-mobbing racism. They'd love him dearly if only he knew his place on their bread line.

22 posted on 02/13/2003 12:20:40 PM PST by Physicist
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To: the_Watchman
Any viewers of the Spanish channels here who know how the issue is being covered?
23 posted on 02/13/2003 12:21:38 PM PST by CedarDave (A burger please, hold the FRENCH fries)
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To: SwinneySwitch
You mean, Scardy Rats!
24 posted on 02/13/2003 12:22:06 PM PST by Ogie Oglethorpe
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To: Fred Mertz
Fred, were you listening to Rush today? wahooooo He's all fired up on Estrada. Rush does not instigate or encourage phone ins to elected officials, but he predicted people would be calling democrat senators to complain about this obstruction of justice. The networks aren't covering this, maybe now they will take notice , and people will find out what the Democrats are trying to pull.

Rush seemed surprised he got 3 "over the transom", irate Hispanic callers, and he said if this is an indication of what's going on out there, Democrats will pay dearly for this miscalculation. One caller equated this action by Democrats to the Bay of Pigs and Elian.

25 posted on 02/13/2003 12:22:30 PM PST by YaYa123
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To: OldFriend
I agree. John Ashcroft's daily attacks just sickened me.
26 posted on 02/13/2003 12:22:52 PM PST by raisincane
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To: kattracks
Can anyone find what courts Miguel Estrada served on before? I can't find any.
27 posted on 02/13/2003 12:22:54 PM PST by freethoughts
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To: jpl
> "I don't believe this tactic should be resorted to unless a nominee has something that is so egregious in nature as to render them beyond the pale."

...and then the proper course of action is to not consent to the nomination (vote "no"), not filibuster.

Again, justice delayed is justice denied...regardless of who is the delayer and their reasons.
28 posted on 02/13/2003 12:24:19 PM PST by pgyanke (Just die so we can finally have peace! - Paraphrased from UBL)
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To: jpl
...."so egregious in nature as to render them beyond the pale."

If "Miss Ruth" doesn't satisfy your criteria --- no one would....

Semper Fi

29 posted on 02/13/2003 12:24:55 PM PST by river rat (Help save the planet ...... Work toward the extinction of Jihadists....ARM THYSELF)
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To: YaYa123
The networks aren't covering this,....

The networks need to. They continue to embrace the libs at their peril and FNC's gain.

30 posted on 02/13/2003 12:25:00 PM PST by Fred Mertz
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To: kattracks
While it is perverted to do to this qualified person what the dumb-o-crats are doing, the bright side is that they are showing the country what mindless robots the additional members of the dumb-o-crats are.

They blindly are brainlessly follow their ego drive leadership down the road to complete ruin.

31 posted on 02/13/2003 12:25:12 PM PST by chiefqc
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To: Jeff Chandler
Thanks I'm boycottin' french pronunciations. I'll change it to "Skeered Rats"
32 posted on 02/13/2003 12:25:43 PM PST by SwinneySwitch (LIBERATE IRAQ, SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!)
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To: kattracks
While the Estrada filibuster is obviously predicated on flimsy grounds, Hatch certainly has his own particular view of history.

"I have to admit there were some on our side who treated President Clinton in a shabby fashion. [But] I will tell you one thing: We never, ever filibustered a Clinton nominee, not once."

That's accurate; because they blue-slipped 'em. They never even let many nominations come up for consideration by the Judiciary Committee.

he Senate, The Courts and the Blue Slip: The Ground Rules During the 1990s

"During the Clinton administration, the White House made significant efforts to consult with senators of both parties prior to nominating judges. With respect to nominees for federal district courts, senators or other elected officials submitted specific recommendations to the White House. In some states represented by both a Democratic and Republican senator, the two senators agreed to divide responsibility for suggesting nominees. In other instances, the Clinton administration received feedback and suggestions directly from Republican and Democratic senators. For example, Senators Orrin Hatch and Trent Lott each suggested candidates for district court seats in their home states; Hatch pushed strongly for the nomination of Ted Stewart in Utah, and Lott recommended Allen Pepper in Mississippi. Despite concerns expressed by civil rights and environmental groups, both Stewart and Pepper were nominated by President Clinton and quickly confirmed.

Genuine consultation also took place on appeals court nominations. Proposed Clinton administration selections were routinely discussed with senators of both parties, and nominations were sometimes delayed for several months as a result. Press reports indicated that President Clinton consulted with Senator Orrin Hatch, both before and after he assumed control of the Senate Judiciary Committee, prior to the Supreme Court nominations of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. In at least one instance, President Clinton nominated an appellate court judge recommended by a Republican Senator, despite objections from progressive groups. This occurred in 1999 when President Clinton accepted the recommendation of Senator Slade Gorton and nominated Barbara Durham for a seat on the Ninth Circuit, although health reasons later led to the nomination's withdrawal.

Senate Republicans also had significant influence after Clinton judicial nominees were selected. However, like other Congressional procedures, the blue slip policy can be-and has been-misused. After he assumed control of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the mid-1990s, Senator Hatch began to rigorously enforce a blue slip policy under which nominations could not move forward without the consent of both home state Senators. In 1998, this policy was made explicit on the blue slips themselves, which stated that "[n]o further proceedings on this nominee will be scheduled until both blue slips have been returned by the nominee's home state senators." Suddenly, a policy that had helped to force consultation and consensus was transformed into a vehicle for partisan obstruction.

Specific information on whether and when Senators returned blue slips is not made public. Nevertheless, it is clear that the strict blue slip policy effectively stopped any and all action on a number of Clinton nominees. For example, President Clinton nominated Helene White from Michigan for a seat on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 7, 1997. Then-Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan reportedly failed to return his blue slip for more than three years. During that time, the Judiciary Committee took no action whatsoever on the nomination. By the time Abraham was finally pressured to return the blue slip late in 2000, Hatch had indicated that no further action would be taken on appeals court nominees that year. President Clinton renominated White in 2001, but President Bush withdrew the nomination in March without any action by the Senate. As a result, the Hatch-led Judiciary Committee took no action on the White nomination, not even scheduling a hearing, for more than four years.

Senator Jesse Helms used his blue slip to block any action on all African-American nominees to the Fourth Circuit for more than four years. No African-American has ever been confirmed for a seat on the Fourth Circuit court of appeals, which covers North and South Carolina and several other southern states. Starting in 1995, President Clinton submitted several African-American nominees to that court from North Carolina, including James Beaty and James Wynn. Reportedly as a result of Helms' failure to return either of his blue slips, however, neither of these nominees even received a hearing from the Judiciary Committee. Not until President Clinton's 2000 recess appointment of Roger Gregory, whose nomination also failed to receive a hearing, has an African-American ever served on the Fourth Circuit.

Other Clinton appeals court nominees, mostly women or minorities, were reportedly blocked by home state Republican senators withholding their blue slips. Examples included: Jorge Rangel and Enrique Moreno of Texas, and Kathleen McCree Lewis of Michigan. Other appeals court nominees, such as Barry Goode of California, Elena Kagan of D.C., and Allen Snyder of Maryland, were blocked even when there was no home state Republican senator to object. Overall, although not a single Clinton-nominated appeals judge was voted down by the Senate, blue slip and related delays and blockades meant that the Senate approved only 61% of President Clinton's appellate court nominees, compared with 87% of those nominated by President Reagan. In 1999-2000, 19 out of 32 Clinton appeals court nominees - roughly 60% - were blocked from receiving a vote."

33 posted on 02/13/2003 12:26:29 PM PST by cogitator
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To: OldFriend
"...what the judiciary committee did to John Ashcroft..."

And Pickering, Owen, etc.

Did you listen to Rush today? Hispanics calling in left and right. The call screener said they were inundated with calls from Hispanics about Estrada. I heard 4 of them, and they were not happy. They were dims that, overnight, turned into Republicans! LOL

Keep it up, dims! Yer killin' yerselves!

34 posted on 02/13/2003 12:27:35 PM PST by dixiechick2000 (I heart "New" Europe.)
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To: kattracks
We never, ever filibustered a Clinton nominee, not once.

Aaaaaand that would be the difference between them and you, Orin.

He is too stupid to understand the significance of his own words. As Rush says over and over to anybody who will listen: you cannot deal with these people. You must defeat them.

35 posted on 02/13/2003 12:32:53 PM PST by Taliesan
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To: The_Macallan
For Democrats, simply being a conservative is "so egregious in nature as to render them beyond the pale".

No, it's not just that he's (somewhat) conservative. The Dems know full well they'll have to confirm some conservative judges just like Republicans had to confirm some liberal judges.

No, Hatch is right that the real problem is that he's ethnic and his nomination would set another bad example. Look at the treatment of Powell and Rice by the liberals/Left. They left the plantation. And that sets the danger of a bad example, namely, that minorities can thrive and rise to the very top positions in the world in the Republican party.

It's the same as always. If you don't vote Democrat, children will die, old people will starve, schools will close, women will be forced into burkas to bear children at gunpoint, blah-blah-blah. Frankly, you can't hold a very high opinion of your fellow-voters when so many of them fall for such transparent fairy tales as what is used to hold together the Democrat coalition. You'd think at some point they'd realize that it's self-defeating to dumb your constituents down while impoverishing them. Their tactics are generally...well, French. Given demographics on immigration, the Dems are very aware they must forestall any visibility of Hispanics in the Republican party. They know very well their own self-interest. It is astonishing that such blatant racists can operate so openly in modern times.
36 posted on 02/13/2003 12:32:55 PM PST by George W. Bush
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To: freethoughts
Can anyone find what courts Miguel Estrada served on before? I can't find any.

Welcome to FR! This is your first day, huh? Always nice to see folks joining the conservative cause. (sic!)

37 posted on 02/13/2003 12:34:39 PM PST by JohnnyZ (I am just here for the beer)
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To: raisincane
They used the same line of attack. He's religious, therefore he might not be able to do his job.
38 posted on 02/13/2003 12:36:13 PM PST by OldFriend (Pray)
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To: kattracks
Robert Bork, 1987.



Clarence Thomas, 1991.



John Ashcroft, 2001.



Thomas Pickering, 2002



Miguel Estrada, 2003



The next Supreme Court nominee, 200?

39 posted on 02/13/2003 12:36:43 PM PST by The_Macallan
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To: freethoughts
I believe he worked in Ted Olson's law firm and argued before the US Supreme Court on behalf of Bush in the Bush v. Gore matter. I believe their hatred of this man lies in this fact.
40 posted on 02/13/2003 12:37:19 PM PST by OldFriend (Pray)
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