Daily News Items

Any Kerry Supporters on the Lines

Nuking the Filibuster
"Senate Republicans, including Sen. Norm Coleman, argue that, in Coleman's words, "There has never before in the history of the Senate been a filibuster of a judicial nominee who could have been confirmed ...."
That is simply untrue and also beside the point. Writing in the National Law Journal, attorney Joshua Spivak says that "since 1789, 33 of the 148 nominees for the highest court have either been rejected by a vote of the Senate, had the voting on their nomination repeatedly postponed or filibustered into nonexistence or eventually bowed out. In the 19th century, more than a third of the nominees went down to defeat." More recent harmony, Spivak says, was due mostly to Democratic domination of both the presidency and Congress.
"
...
"In 1968, however, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas to succeed Earl Warren as chief justice. Republicans, joined by a few conservative Southern Democrats, successfully filibustered Fortas' nomination. Cloture was rejected on a vote of 45 for cloture, 43 against. Fortas was denied the up-down vote on the Senate floor Coleman says he deserved. Coleman waves that aside, asserting that Fortas would have been rejected anyway. In fact, the historical record strongly suggests he would have won, but that ultimately is unknowable absent that up-down vote."
...
"In fact, the Congressional Research Service reports that between 1967 and 2002, cloture was sought on filibusters of 17 judicial nominees."
...
"Sen. Orrin Hatch, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was singularly successful in rejecting Clinton's nominees by simply refusing to even hold a committee hearing on them. In total, more than 60 of Clinton's nominees were bottled up in the Senate this way.
"

A High-Tech Lynching in Prime Time

Secret Service records raise new questions about discredited conservative reporter

The Oblivious Right

The Agony of War

Turbulence on Campus in 60's Hardened Views of Future Pope

Wisps of Life in Congress

UN Investigator Who Exposed US Army Abuse Forced Out of His Job

The Democracy Trap

Fixing What Ails the Schools

Let the District Decide

Towards Equality

A Boldface Name Invites Others to Blog With Her

Preserving the Right to a Lawyer



Memo to Karen Hughes

Sedition and the Fundamentalist Jihad

Republican Party Loyalty Oath Courtesy of Kim Jong Il of North Korea