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Senate Debate on Nominations Today the Senate resumes debate on the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The Senate will conduct its first roll call vote of the week at 5:30pm. Follow the C-SPAN networks & C-SPAN Radio for the debate on Senate rules & judicial nominations. MON., 11:30AM ET, C-SPAN2 -------------------- ORDERS FOR MONDAY, MAY 23, 2005 -- (Senate - May 20, 2005) [Page: S5714] GPO's PDF --- Mr. CORNYN. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 11:30 a.m....

Byrd changed the filibuster rules four times during his tenure as Majority Leader, abetted in at least one instance by former VP Walter Mondale, who now writes silly op-eds about the danger of such maneuvers to the Republic... No one expects the GOP to eliminate the filibuster for legislation. Legislation originates within the Senate and is therefore an internal process, and the Senate is well within its power to regulate debate on its own terms for that purpose. However, the confirmation of executive appointments and treaties involve the power and responsibilities of the executive branch, and the Senate does not...

One of Rush Limbaugh's favorite jokes is about how God has a press conference to warn humanity that the world will end the next day. The headlines vary according to style. New York Daily News has "We're Gone!" in huge type. Wall Street Journal says "Markets to Close Early." Washington Post runs "World Will End - Women and Minorities Hardest hit." For decades, liberal activists and Democrat pollsters have finely tuned their rhetoric through focus groups, polls and so forth and it's curious that they don't see what's looming for them on the election horizon. Contrary to their protestations, their...

Once in America the liberal agenda and its radical programs advanced unopposed. Liberals held sway over the elected branches of government, and over the course of decades, infected the judiciary system with cadres of like minded liberals who held their goals of forcibly restructuring American society superior to the welfare and will of the people. Faced with an uncaring and unresponsive government, America’s conservative majority turned to the only tool left for them to affect government change, the ballot box. Now, as the Conservative Revolution has swept Republicans into majority positions in the Federal and preponderance of state governments, liberals...

Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen has become one of President Bush’s most controversial judicial nominees. First nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit over four years ago, she has been blocked by Senate Democrats who charge she is a “judicial activist” and too extreme for the federal bench. An exceptionally qualified judge, she is now at the center of the fight to end the judicial filibuster. Barring a last-minute deal, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will use the vote on her nomination to force a change in Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster of...

Cots were brought into the Capitol Monday as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist scheduled an all-night session stretching into Tuesday to dramatize the debate over President Bush’s judicial nominees and the filibusters that Democrats have used to block votes on 10 of them. The Senate debated the nomination of appeals court hopeful Priscilla Owen for four days last week and is set to vote on a motion to end the Owen debate on Tuesday. Opening debate Monday morning, Frist reminded Democrats that he has offered them 100 hours of debate on each judicial nomination, an offer they rejected. In Tuesday's...

MR. RUSSERT: Let's go right to it. The Republicans say on Tuesday that if the Democrats do not stop filibustering their judicial appointments made by President Clinton--President Bush, they will change the rules for the filibuster. What will that change mean? DR. DEAN: I think the change will be dreadful for American democracy, and I think it's going to be, frankly, very bad for the Republican Party. One of the great geniuses of American democracy, unlike most of the democracies in the world that minority rights are protected, 48 percent of us didn't vote for President Bush, but we still...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist reportedly has the votes to enforce the so-called "nuclear option" against judicial filibusters instigated by Democrats, despite claims to the contrary by Minority Leader Harry Reid. After a Thursday meeting with Senate Democrats, Reid boasted he was ready for the coming battle. "It was one of the most pleasant experiences of my entire life," he told reporters. "We walked out of there so united. We talked about what's going to happen after Tuesday," when the filibuster showdown is expected to come to head. But according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, Reid was blowing...

I am constantly amazed at the evolution of debates. There is a definite and identifiable pattern of fighting battles using ‘proxy’ arguments. The current Filibuster situation is an example of an argument being fought by proxy. The argument here really has nothing to do with Senate traditions and constitutional rules, the 500 lb. gorilla in the middle of the room which no one wants to recognize is named Abortion. Certain issues are simply to hot to handle, and neither side wants to approach them directly. What each side tends to do is hold their position in abeyance until they are...

Good morning fellow Freepers and political junkies. It's day three of the Senate debate on judicial nominations, the filabuster, and will the GOP stick to its guns? The hot rumor this mornign is that Warner and Sheets are working together on a compromise..Gawd..

The rules of the Senate are in these lawmakers' hands Centrists yesterday sought a deal to deflect the "nuclear" end to filibusters of judicial nominees. Continued impasse will mean "one of the most important [votes] in the history of this institution," says Sen. Specter. GOP Sens. McCain, Chafee and Snowe openly oppose the nuclear option. But Democrats still need three more GOP defectors, more if they lose anyone from their own ranks .........snip

Today and yesterday, two articles in the Tribune by Jill Zuckman stated: "Since Bush took office, he has made 218 judicial nominations and the Senate has confirmed 208 of them." That leaves 10 nominees that were not confirmed, by Ms. Zuckman's count. However, it can be easily verified that the following 17 individuals were nominated to circuit courts by President Bush during the 107th or 108th Congress, but never confirmed: Claude Allen, Terrence Boyle, Janice Brown, Miguel Estrada, Richard A. Griffin, Thomas B. Griffith, William Haynes, Brett Kavanaugh, Carolyn Kuhl, David McKeague, William Myers, Susan Neilson, Priscilla Owen, Charles W....

Are you worried about the increasing presence of religion in our nation's political discourse? Do you fret about the influence of the religious right? If so, what did you make of the scene in the United States Senate last week, when a leading politician took to the floor to announce: I speak as a born-again Christian. HEAR ME, ALL YOU EVANGELICALS OUT THERE! HEAR ME! Your first reaction might be that the Family Research Council has finally taken over. Somebody protect the Constitution. But don't worry. The speaker of those lines was not James Dobson, or Pat Robertson, or Jerry...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Both political parties have begun the showdown over judicial nominations in a weakened position, facing low approval ratings for their performance in Congress that compound the political risks in the confrontation.</p> <p>Few strategists expect any of the arguments over the GOP's bid to thwart Senate filibusters to sway many voters in the 2006 elections. But many analysts believe the conflict could increase and solidify the public antagonism toward Washington surfacing in polls — especially if the dispute, as is likely, deepens Capitol Hill's partisan acrimony and impedes action on problems more tangible to voters, from gasoline prices to Social Security.</p>

The "nuclear option" will have a long fuse. If all goes as planned, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) will rise after several days of debate beginning today over one of President Bush's judicial nominees and call for an end to Democrats' delaying tactics. The presiding officer will then rule in his favor. Democrats will protest the ruling and ask for a vote to overturn it. The Republican leader will seek to table that appeal. If Frist and the GOP majority prevail, a long tradition of filibustering will be narrowed and a new precedent will be set allowing the Republicans...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid speaking for the perfectly unified Senate Democrats advanced their argument during Wednesday morning’s U. S. Senate debate on the first of several planned resubmissions of President Bush’s nominees to appellate court judicial posts, that of Priscilla Owen. The showdown over Owen will shortly be followed by the resubmission of the nomination of Justice Janice Rogers Brown and other Bush nominees to the federal appellate bench. Reid’s presentation was overflowing with misinformation, misleading statements and outright deception. But one intentional distortion was so outrageous that it stands out as bolder and more duplicitous than all the...

Text Credit to Ken5050: DAY-1 THREAD Welcome, all you Freepers, to the continuing C-span soap operas about judicial nominations. "The Guiding SEARCHLIGHT, " "As the SENATE Turns, "One NOMINATION to Live" "GERIATRIC Hospital" (for all you Byrd and Lautenberg fans out there). Follow along with us, as the Dems raise the level of histrionics, bloviation, pontification, and all around bad acting to new highs, er, lows...

The Senate approved a historic change in the filibuster rule last night after seven weeks of angry debate. It voted 56 to 27 to reduce the number of senators needed to cut off a filibuster from two-thirds of those present and voting to a permanent "constitutional" threefifths (60 senators).

Welcome, all you Freepers, to the continuing C-span soap operas about judicial nominations. "The Guiding SEARCHLIGHT, " "As the SENATE Turns, "One NOMINATION to Live" "GERIATRIC Hospital" (for all you Byrd and Lautenberg fans out there). Follow along with us, as the Dems raise the level of histrionics, bloviation, pontification, and all around bad acting to new highs, er, lows...

In the Senate this week, what promises to be a contentious culmination to what Republican Senator Trent Lott originally coined the "nuclear option" will almost certainly take place. Majority Leader Bill Frist will call for a vote on Texas Nominee Priscilla Owens, first nominated by President Bush to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in May 2001. At that point, the Senate chamber will have gone to what might be described as DefCon 1. The term "DefCon," short for Defense Condition, is the chief operating procedure of NORAD, or North American Air Defense, located in the Cheyenne Mountains of Colorado....