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First Shots Fired In Filibuster Fight
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-05-18
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The Senate opened debate this today on President Bush's judicial nominee Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court Judge and they also lit the fuse in this stick of dynamite consuming the U.S. Senate right now.
The pressure's been building for weeks now after Republicans issued their threat of a "Nuclear Option" to do a way with the unlimited debate better known as filibustering of judicial nominees and while a number of senators have worked for compromise, no ground has been gained in this heated political fight.
The Republicans say all they want is an up or down vote for Bush's appellate court nominees previously filibustered out during Bush's first term in office. The Democrats say the getting rid of the filibuster would be a major violation of Senate rules and certainly Senate tradition. The Democrats levied their own threat stating that if the Republicans pressed the button on the nuclear option, they would bring Senate business to a very slow crawl by taking advantage of parliamentary procedures to slow down the process.
Moderate senators on both sides have been working vigorously to reach some type of compromise but the party faithful on both sides hasn't budged. The Republicans want a guarantee that Democrats won't filibuster their judicial nominees and the Democrats want a guarantee they won't further change the rules. Neither side is willing to give.
Even the typically cool Senator John McCain of Arizona brushed off reporters saying, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know."
This culmination of weeks of public debate has brought in many other players attacking the "activist judges" or seeking to protect the right of the filibuster. In Louisville, KY, a couple of weeks ago, a church service was held with a video contribution from Senator Bill Frist, R- Tennessee, the Senate majority leader and leader of this anti-filibuster movement. Many suggest Frist will also run for president in 2008.
Senator Harry Reid, D - Nevada, and the Senate Minority Leader has led the charge against Frist and company. He called for all committee meetings to be cancelled during today's debate and the New York Times pointed out this may be a taste of the slow down anticipated.
The debates continue in the Senate today and are expected to continue for some time.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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