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by Susan Jones, CNSNews.com Morning Editor
May 19, 2005
(CNSNews.com) – The "showdown" on the floor of the U.S. Senate began Wednesday morning, as any good showdown does: with each side trying to frame the argument over President Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the most important thing right now is to see if Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown are "deserving of a vote - yes or no - on the floor of the United States Senate."
Democrats urged Republicans to be reasonable: Deal with the less controversial judges first, they said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said taking up the nominations of Thomas Griffith and other "noncontroversial judges" would clear the way for those judges to get to work within a few days. "Otherwise they're going to be waiting until we get through all of this," Reid said.
In response, Frist said the first nominee up is Priscilla Owen - and as other nominees come out of the Judiciary Committee, they will be taken up as well.
Reid responded that Democrats "will not agree to committees meeting during the time we are doing a debate on Priscilla Owen."
Let's talk it over
In a second attempt to forestall a change in Senate rules, Reid suggested that the Senate do what it did during the Clinton impeachment: "At that time we retired to the old Senate chambers, no staff there - just 100 Senators. And we worked through some very difficult problems, and surprised everyone."
Reid asked Frist to consider doing that again: "Consider joining with me...have all of us retire to the chamber, sit down and talk through this issue and see if there is a way that we can resolve this, short of this so-called nuclear option.
"I think it would be good for the body, I think it would be good for the American public to see that we are able to sit down in the same room and work things out. I'm not sure that we could, but I think it would be worthy of our efforts."
Frist responded that the two sides have "engaged in negotiations" over the last four or five months, to no avail. He indicated that Democrat attempts to "delay and sidetrack" won't work.
Frist said fundamental question before the Senate is this: "Is Priscilla Owen out of the mainstream?" Eighty-four percent of Texans don't think so, he said.
"All we want is a vote - an up-or-down vote; accept, reject, confirm -- that's all that we're asking for. We don't want the constitutional option; we didn't ask for the constitutional option."
Frist said it's the Democrats who have shattered 214 of Senate tradition by filibustering judicial nominees in the first place.
Frist said the judicial filibuster is now being used on a routine basis. "Why?" he asked, adding that the stalled nominees deserve the courtesy of a vote - a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 votes required to cut off a filibuster.
In his final comment before debate began, Reid said Democrats are following the rules: "While it's good to talk about this up or down vote, the fact is to move forward as contemplated by the majority, is moving toward breaking the rules, to change the rules, that's improper -- it will change the Senate forever, and that's not good."
'Consensus nominee'
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) wondered if Republican leaders are aware that there are now about 30 vacancies on the federal bench for which President Bush has not yet made a nomination.
"If he would work with Senators of both parties to identify qualified consensus nominees for each of these spots, the vacancy numbers on our courts could be lowered even further."
Kennedy said Democrat offers to work with President Bush on future nominations have met no response.
Under the Constitution, decisions on who to nominate rest with the president alone. After the president makes a nomination, then it's up to the Senate to accept or reject that nomination. Some Republicans bristle at the notion that President Bush or any president should confer with the Senate to produce a "consensus" nominee.
Debate begins
The first hour of debate began with Sen. Frist rising for the principle that "judicial nominees with the support of the majority of senators deserve up-or-down votes on this floor.
"Debate the nominee for five hours, debate the nominee for 80 hours, vote for the nominee, vote against the nominee, confirm the nominee, reject the nominee, but in the end - vote," he said.
Frist said the debate will discuss both Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown, and he also expects it to include Senate rules and procedures.
"No doubt this will be a spirited debate, as it should be. And I also hope it will be a decisive debate," Frist said. |
