By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
April, 2005
(CNSNews.com) -- A coalition seeking to end Senate Democrats' filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees in a letter that will be sent to Senate Republicans Wednesday is calling on the GOP to "end this obstruction" by changing Senate rules requiring 60 votes to end a filibuster.
"We believe that short of a compromise that guarantees an up or down vote at the end of debate, the Constitutional Options available to you will serve to honor the Constitution, restore Senate tradition, and protect judicial independence," the National Coalition to End Judicial Filibusters said in the letter. A similar letter was sent to Senate GOP leaders last week.
According to the coalition, the Founding Fathers were concerned with the judicial independence. "The Framers firmly established an independent judiciary, but one subject to a written Constitution and the checks and balances of the other branches that it prescribes," they wrote.
"In recent times, partisan special interests have threatened judicial independence again by inserting ideology into the Senate confirmation process of federal judges. Now the Minority has changed 215 years of Senate tradition by abusing the filibuster for the first time against nominees with clear majority support," the coalition added.
While it is the president's right to expect the advice and consent of the Senate in a reasonable amount of time, the coalition said, it is the duty of every senator to offer advice and consent "through an honest, up or down vote."
"Moreover, the unprecedented abuse of the filibuster is a device intended to undermine the prerogatives of the Presidency as well as the tradition of the Senate. It must not stand. You must not waver," the coalition wrote.
The coalition added that Bush should have "the freedom to nominate appellate judges and Supreme Court justices who will restore the courts to their constitutional role."
"We are convinced that the proof of history is overwhelming that the Constitutional Options are a conservative response that do not threaten but will restore Senate debate rules and tradition," the coalition wrote.
Republicans should follow the example, the coalition said, of the 19 Senate Democrats, who in 1995 voted for a 51-vote threshold to end debate instead of the 60-vote threshold normally required for legislative filibusters.
Back then, Republicans, who were in the majority, unanimously opposed the change. The Democratic leadership and a majority of Senate Democrats joined the GOP in blocking the proposal, the coalition noted.
"That failed vote in 1995 and the absence of any other amendment efforts for three decades is ample evidence of bipartisan agreement to preserve the legislative filibuster, demonstrating a two-century-old consensus," the coalition wrote.
"Clearly, however, the partisan abuse of the cloture rule in the last Congress to obstruct honest votes on judicial nominees has fractured the consensus as to filibusters on nominations," the coalition added.
"We understand that Article I of the Constitution allows the Senate to adopt rules for itself, but that right belongs to this Senate as much as it did to the first Senate. We call for a restoration of Senate traditions, returning to the majority vote on Advice and Consent the Constitution mandates," the coalition concluded.
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