We have Republicans trying to change the rules, silence debate and ram through their radical judges to lifetime appointments on the bench.
What we are seeing is the arrogance and abuse of power. If Republicans don’t like the rules, they change them. If someone is standing in their way, they attack them. If they disagree with a judge’s ruling, they threaten them.
Democrats in Washington are the last remaining check on President Bush’s power. If they can silence us, they can turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for the president. Not just on judges. But on Supreme Court nominees. And legislation like Social Security too.
I hope responsible Republicans in this country and in the Senate will tell their leaders to stop the abuse of power. Let’s quit trying to change the rules, and get back to the work of the American people. They didn’t send us here to misuse or abuse our power, they sent us here to get things done.
Frist has backed himself into a corner. At least one Republican, John McCain, has said he will vote against the rule change. The Senate Parliamentarian will oppose it as well.
The filibuster is a pillar of American democracy. It is an important check against abuse of political power.
Republicans want to prohibit use of the filibuster against judicial nominations to grease the path for President Bush’s nominees. In their hurry to reshape the courts to Bush’s liking, they’re stomping over protections that keep the rights of a political minority from being bullied by an arrogant majority.
They’re also rewriting history, claiming the filibuster was never meant to be a tool to block judicial appointments. That’s hogwash. Filibusters have often been used to thwart presidential nominations. The first recorded instance dates back to 1881, when Republicans were unable to end the filibuster that blocked President Hayes’ nomination of Stanley Matthews to the Supreme Court.
Nor is there any legal basis for the claim that a filibuster is unconstitutional. The Constitution authorizes the Senate to make its rules of procedures. If a filibuster is unconstitutional, so are dozens of other Senate rules.
Republicans’ attack on the filibuster isn’t driven by any sense of fairness — legal or otherwise. Democrats have confirmed more than 200 of Bush’s nominees; that’s a better per-term average of confirmations than President Clinton enjoyed. But because Democrats haven’t embraced extreme nominees such as Priscilla Owen, Republicans are crying obstructionism.
The radical right cannot be allowed to win its assault on an independent judiciary.
....these radically conservative activists feel that their agenda is being thwarted by the independent judiciary. And so the masks have come off. They are now openly demanding an end to the nation’s independent federal judiciary. They are calling for mass impeachment and even criminal prosecution of federal judges who disagree with them. And they will soon be demanding that Bush remake the Supreme Court with appointments that will eliminate a constitutional right to privacy, the separation of church and state, and much more. Unfortunately, these leaders are no easily dismissible fringe – they are power brokers at the center of Republican Party politics, with influence in the White House and among the leaders of Congress. It’s urgent that the American public see them for who they are, and understand the threat they pose to our very constitutional order.
Here's more from the Detroit Free Press. Read Sen. Edward Kennedy's floor statement from last week. Even Bob Dole is opposed. 142 organizations have signed a letter to Frist asking him to abandon his plan.
Representatives of 142 organizations delivered a letter to Frist's Senate office urging him to abandon the so-called "nuclear" option of allowing a simple 51-vote majority to end filibusters on judges, replacing the 67-vote majority now required.
The organizations, representing a broad political spectrum, expressed concern that if the right to filibuster judicial nominations is removed, the rules could also be changed to eliminate the right to filibuster legislation.
Don't stay silent on this one. Our democracy depends on it.
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