Free Republic

Watched the 1962 movie 'Advice and Consent' on TCM last night. It really is a great political movie. Director Otto Preminger did a great job. I am not sure how they could afford such a great cast. Many stars of Classic Hollywood: Franchot Tone as the (shady) President Lew Ayres as The (simple minded but honest) Vice President Charles Laughton as South Carolina Senator Seabright Cooley Don Murray as young Utah Senator Brigham Anderson Walter Pidgeon as Senate Majority Leader Bob Munson Henry Fonda as a Lefty Academic turned government bureaucrat, nominated for Secretary of State Peter Lawford(then married to...

Traitor is strong language, but in the aftermath of Tuesday’s vote on a bill that was supposed to reaffirm the Senate’s constitutional power to consent to President Obama’s as yet still undefined and undisclosed nuclear treaty with Iran there is no other way to describe the actions of Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations The bill Corker rammed through the Foreign Relations Committee is worse than no bill at all. What Corker’s bill does is, in its post-markup form, require the president to submit for congressional review the final nuclear agreement reached between Iran, the...

On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced he had appointed Deirdre Delisi, his former chief of staff, chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Transportation. As of today, I will not vote to confirm her appointment in the next legislative session. Ask almost any Texan, especially those who have the need to travel frequently on Interstate 35, about our Texas transportation system and they will tell you that many of our roads have extreme congestion, while other construction projects have experienced significant cost overruns. Last year, TxDOT notified the public that it had experienced a...

Abstract: "The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy" analyzes the shift in the role of the Supreme Court following the movement towards a democratic Senate which culminated in the Seventeenth Amendment. The Supreme Court's shift is presented as the inevitable result of the system of mixed government that underlies the constitutional order, which orders American Government into democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical parts. While in the original conception of the constitution the Senate was the aristocratic part, the Senate would become part of the democratic part with the Seventeenth Amendment and prior procedural changes. Into...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's campaign Web site touts public education as a long-standing "top priority" of his, but the school year began this week with teachers and administrators still wondering who will be the next commissioner of education. That question mark is one among many with nearly 400 expired gubernatorial appointments this year alone to state boards, commissions and universities. Senators — worried that Perry is dodging their constitutional role of confirming most gubernatorial appointments — are crying foul. By Friday, 388 of Perry's appointments will have already expired so far this year, but only one in eight have...

It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, than when he was bound to submit the propriety of his choice to the discussion and determination of a different and independent body, and that body an entire branch of the legislature. The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. The danger to his own reputation, and, in the case of an elective magistrate, to his political existence, from betraying a spirit of favoritism, or an unbecoming pursuit...

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT 22 Democratic senators voted to confirm John G. Roberts Jr. as the 17th chief justice of the United States. That's more than anyone would have imagined just a few months ago, when the talk in Washington was all about filibusters and nuclear options. The bad news is that 22 Democratic senators voted against Roberts. That's far more than the handful of Republicans who voted against Bill Clinton's two Supreme Court appointees, Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Washington's recent polarization suggests things could have been worse. But it is still alarming that 22 Democrats...

DNC Chairman Howard Dean Says Be Prepared For Unprecedented Filibuster Of Next Supreme Court Nominee:"In An Interview, [DNC Chairman Howard] Dean Said Democratic Unity Is Essential In The Upcoming Battle And That The Party 'Absolutely' Should Be Prepared To Filibuster -- Holding Unlimited Debate And Preventing An Up-Or-Down Vote -- Bush's Next High Court Nominee, If He Taps Someone They Find Unacceptably Ideological." (Dan Balz and Amy Goldstein, "Filibuster Showdown Looms In Senate," The Washington Post, 9/28/05) Dean: "A Fight To The Death Is A Filibuster, Which Is The Only Way We Can Reject An Unqualified Nominee -- Because...

All 55 Senate Republicans are expected to vote to confirm John Roberts as chief justice of the United States. The 44 Senate Democrats are less unified, and independent James Jeffords of Vermont has not announced his position. Democrats who have announced their support for Roberts (17):Max Baucus of Montana, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Carl Levin...

Based on news releases from the websites of U.S. Senators and official statements in the press (found via news.google.com), Judge John Roberts will be confirmed as the next Chief Justice of the United States with the affirming vote of -- at minimum -- 55 U.S. Senators. No, these aren't the 55 GOP Senators, although no Republicans are on record in opposition to Roberts' nomination. The tally includes 43 Republicans who are on record with their intention to vote yes, and 12 Democrats who have broken ranks with party leadership to put their support behind Judge Roberts. Those Democrats who have...

I followed a link from a thread on FR to PFAW, and read their statements about filibusters of judicial nominees. I then sent them the following note in the Comment part of their form: Question/Comment Ladies & Gentlemen, I practice in the US Supreme Court. I write books and articles on Con Law. I know the legal history of the US inside and out. You have money, you have researchers. You know as well as I do that the legislative filibuster is two centuries old, but the judicial filibuster is both new and recent. You also know that the Advice...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former Interior Department lawyer opposed by environmentalists and American Indian tribes is the first of President Bush's judicial nominees to face a confirmation fight this year. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who handled nomination matters in his previous job as White House counsel, said Monday he wanted to end the impasse before a president's choice to fill a Supreme Court vacancy gets caught up in it. "It is imperative that this broken process be fixed before we arrive at that point," Gonzales said in a speech in Washington. Democrats blocked William G. Myers III in 2004 from...

I've just watched half of the Senate debate on judicial nominations. As my wife said with great accuracy, before going off to bed, “Anyone who wants to watch that is deeply warped.” However, there are at least 5,000 people who are interested in this, as I know from talking with them on the Internet as the speeches played out. By 4 a.m. Eastern, the debate had become largely repetitious, so now it's time to write the summary. The lead for the story should be the address by Senator Zell Miller (D, Georgia) about 1:30 a.m. The mainstream media won't feature...

Kay Daly of the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary has asked the D.C. Chapter of Free Republic to assist in coordination efforts during the upcoming 30-hour marathon Senate session to call attention to the blatant Democrat obstruction of judicial nominees. The session will begin on Wednesday and end sometime Friday. All FReepers and Lurkers in good standing within the metro D.C. area or within easy driving distance in nearby states are invited and encouraged to show their support by their presence in the Senate Gallery and at press conferences to be held frequently during this extended session. If you cannot...