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WASHINGTON - In a dramatic reach across party lines, Senate centrists sealed a compromise Monday night to clear the way for confirmation of many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leave others in limbo and preserve venerable filibuster rules. "In a Senate that has become increasingly partisan and polarized, the bipartisan center held," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., one of 14 senators _seven from each party — to pledge their "mutual trust and confidence" on the deal. "The Senate is back in business," exulted Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., reflecting the view that...

The debate about filibusters has narrowed to a single proposition — that Republicans, eager to push through George W. Bush’s nominees to the federal bench, have decided to change the rules of the Senate, and thus change the terms under which the august body does its business. This claim casts Republicans as bad losers who face defeat not with equanimity and courage, but by whining and changing the rules. Most public-opinion polls frame the issue in precisely this way, and predictably invite the public to take a dim view of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s attempt to clarify the proper...

Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, said yesterday that he doesn't think a compromise can be reached with Senate Democrats and predicted his party has the 51 votes needed to employ the so-called "nuclear option" that will prevent the filibustering of judicial nominees. "I just think that it is not that big of a deal for senators to exercise their constitutional responsibility," Mr. Allen said on ABC's "This Week." "I think that we'll get the constitutional option done, and we'll vote on judges." Also yesterday, Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, answered "yes" when asked on CBS' "Face the Nation"...

Since when does a nation get its undies in a bunch over filibustering judges and cranky diplomats? This is the best part (for me, and apparently millions of others) of the success and the emergence of new media. Now, my opinion is Rush Limbaugh gets the lions share of credit for this. His show blazed the trail for Fox News, Free Republic, The Weekly Standard, Real Clear Politics, Sean Hannity, Lucianne.com, etc... Rush made politics cool-- especially conservative politics and he did this post Watergate, Viet Nam and Reagan! The Old Media was in its prime and loaded for bear....

Vitter WASHINGTON -- The national debate about President Bush's judicial nominations spilled into Louisiana on Thursday when one of the state's U.S. senators boldly challenged another on the Senate floor. In an unusual move, freshman U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., used his floor speech to call on senior colleague Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., to support Bush nominations and end filibusters blocking seven judges. One of the nominees is Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles federal court appeals from Louisiana. Democrats have blocked Owen's nomination four times since 2001. "We have...

Sometimes things are not as they appear peering through the legislative looking glass. Congress increasingly has an "Alice in Wonderland" feel to it, where statements by lawmakers and activists create a strange dissonance and legislative reality that is out of sync with political rhetoric. Yet because their press releases represent the authorized voice of the opposition, Democratic Party leaders' idiom has an aura of validity — however phony. There is a method to the madness. Democrats are laying political sod, preparing the ground for the 2006 congressional elections. Call it "project overreach"; like many aspects of the Democratic Party these...

Closed-Door Judicial Talks Resume Thursday, May 19, 2005 WASHINGTON — Over a dozen moderate lawmakers were scheduled to resume behind-the-scenes talks Thursday to head off a Senate showdown over judicial filibusters (search), according to congressional aides. The centrist senators convened Wednesday in various offices around the Capitol complex — in Sen. John Warner's office at one point, Republican Mike DeWine's office at another — in an effort to reach a compromise. But no deal has yet been made. Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar (search) of Colorado attended at least 13 private meetings over the previous 24 hours with senators trying to...

Making an unsound argument is bad. Leaving it uncorrected is worse. Since I would prefer to be bad than worse, it’s time — for me, at least — to reconsider filibusters. Back in November, I flatly asserted that filibustering judges did not violate the constitution. My contention was that although filibusters are bad policy, this just makes them yet another of the countless unwise choices a free people may make — and for which they may hold each other accountable in the democratic process. Although I did not develop the argument (it was not central to what I was...

Democrats learned obstruction from the masters: the GOP WASHINGTON — The stakes in politics are about to get a lot higher. The partisan battles in the coming weeks — on judges, Social Security and Tom DeLay — are part of a larger struggle in which Republicans are seeking to establish themselves as the dominant party in American politics. Essential to their quest is persuading Democrats, or at least a significant number in their ranks, to accept long-term minority status. The current acrimony in politics is incomprehensible unless it is understood as the inevitable next act of a long-term struggle. Its...

If Republicans succeed in ending Democratic filibustering of President Bush's judicial nominees, Al Gore recently remarked, then "America would face the twin dangers of an economic blueprint that eliminated most all of the safeguards and protections established for middle-class families throughout the 20th century and a complete revision of the historic insulation of the rule of law from sectarian dogma." Chicken Little, meet Mr. Gore. Mr. Gore's hyperventilating aside, if judicial filibusters are busted, the Republic will undoubtedly survive -- the nation managed to endure more than 200 years without them. The art of politics today is not to compromise,...

Here is what the smarmy senator said about up or down votes when Clinton wanted judges passed.

Senate Minority Reid Harry Reid (search) has extended an olive branch of sorts to Republicans on President Bush's judicial nominees. In private talks with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Reid said he was willing to allow two of Bush's seven most contested appeals court nominees pass through the confirmation process, but only if Republicans drop threats to ban judicial filibusters (search), officials said Monday.

Will "Justice Sunday" turn out to be a political and religious mistake? I think so. The scheduled April 24 rally and national telecast, sponsored by conservative Christian groups, advertises people I respect, including James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, and Chuck Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries. But the decision to hold the event is a woeful tactic based on a false premise. The premise is that Senate Democrats, by threatening to filibuster several of President Bush's judicial choices, have attacked religious believers. "Stop the filibuster against people of faith" is the slogan....

WASHINGTON — Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday it was not "radical" to ask senators to vote on judicial nominees as he hardened his effort to strip Democrats of their power to stall President Bush's picks for the federal court. Frist, speaking at an event organized by Christian groups trying to rally churchgoers to support an end to judicial filibusters, also said judges deserve "respect, not retaliation," no matter how they rule. A potential candidate for the White House in 2008, the Tennessee Republican made no overt mention of religion in the brief address, according to his videotaped remarks played...

MYTH-FACT: JUDICIAL FILIBUSTERS Myth: Senate Republicans Are Attempting To Abolish All Filibusters. Fact: Republicans Are Seeking To Restore The Advice And Consent Constitutional Obligations Of The Senate For Judicial Nominees ­ Not Eliminate The Legislative Filibuster ­ Even Though Democrats Have Supported In The Past Abolishing All Forms Of Filibusters. In 1995, Democrats (Bingaman, Boxer, Feingold, Harkin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Lieberman, And Sarbanes) Wanted To End The Legislative Filibuster. In 1995, the only Senators on record supporting the end of the legislative filibuster were all Democrats, nine of whom are still serving in the Senate. (Karen Hosler, "Senators Vote 76-19...

Amnesia and an abundance of hot air are the order of the day in the Senate. Liberals are screaming bloody murder because Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is seeking a way to derail unprecedented judicial filibusters by Democrats. But when Democrats were nominating the judges, they sang a different tune. Senator Frist is seriously considering a measure to allow confirmation of judges on an up-or-down vote by a simple majority. The Democrats, prodded by far-left-wing groups, are resisting. Currently it takes 60 votes (three fifths of the Senate) to break any filibuster. But for over 200 years, judicial filibusters were...

When some members of Congress violate the Constitution, how can we have any confidence in their leadership? Yet that is precisely the effect these unlawful filibusters of judicial nominees are having -- undermining confidence in the Senate. Instead of voting yes or no on President Bush's picks for certain federal judgeships, Democrats are refusing to allow a vote to even take place, using a Senate rule that no motion may come to a vote while still under discussion. The filibuster, as it's called, has been used by both sides for over a century and a half to delay votes while...

This is a New York Times story. "As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmation, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as against people of faith for blocking President Bush's nominees. Flyers for the telecast, which have been organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky Mega Church on the evening of April 24th call the day 'Justice Sunday,' and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the...

An End to the Judicial Filibuster? 04/13 09:42 AM Are the Democratic filibusters coming to an end? That’s the indication from today’s story in The Hill. Democrat Senator Ben Nelson is pursuing a deal with Trent Lott that would allow for floor votes on controversial judicial nominees after an allotted time for debate. The proposal would create a permanent Senate rules change. While The Hill notes Harry Reid would certainly be against the proposal, there may be enough moderate Democrats from red states to push it through. Nelson and a number of centrist Democrats have also indicated that should Harry...

Democrat senators pounce on comments by Cornyn that linked recent episodes of courtroom violence to public anger over judicial rulings By Chuck Lindell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Wednesday, April 6, 2005 WASHINGTON -- With hostilities over judicial nominees tilting toward open warfare in the U.S. Senate, Democrats pounced Tuesday on comments by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that linked recent episodes of courtroom violence to public anger over politically active judges. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called Cornyn's comments, delivered Monday on the Senate floor, difficult to comprehend and justify, and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer dismissed Cornyn's opinion as "absurd -- but...