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Resist the Filibuster Fiat
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jan 24, 2006 06:08pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Tuesday, February 1, 2005 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Kevin Drum
Monday, January 31, 2005; Page A21
During President Bush's first term, 10 of his judicial nominees were filibustered by Senate Democrats. This month, when the 109th Congress convened, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist finally declared war. Calling the filibusters an "unfortunate break with more than 200 years of Senate tradition," he made the Democrats an offer he hopes they can't refuse. "Right now," he said ominously, "we cannot be certain judicial filibusters will cease. So I reserve the right to propose changes to Senate Rule XXII and do not acquiesce to carrying over all the rules from the last Congress."
In other words, if Democrats don't play ball, Frist reserves the right to invoke the "nuclear option": a parliamentary ruling that eliminates judicial filibusters by fiat, without a vote of the Senate.
But the majority leader protests too much. Not only have filibusters been attempted against judicial nominees in the past, but Frist himself has even voted for one. In 2000, after Senate conservatives had held up Bill Clinton's nomination of Richard Paez to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for four years, Frist joined in an unsuccessful attempt to filibuster Paez -- a judge who was favored by a clear majority of the Senate and who won confirmation after the filibuster was broken by a vote of 59 to 39.
Still, Frist has a point. Senate Democrats have relied on filibusters to block judicial nominees far more often than have minority parties in previous congresses. But there's good reason for this: Republicans have steadily done away with every other Senate rule that allows minorities to object to judicial nominees -- rules that Republicans took full advantage of when they were the ones out of power. |
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