Is the filibuster unconstitutional?
Washington Post’s Ezra Klein busts on the filibuster. Gone are the days of Mr. Smith when invoking the filibuster was seen to serve a greater purpose. The filibuster has its roots in Ancient Rome, and apparently even then it had its critics.
Earlier this week, the United States Senate was tied up in a contentious, but long overdue, legislative showdown over President Obama’s judicial nominees. We witnessed the almost unbelievable spectacle of a Republican filibuster of 17 district court nominees, almost all of whom are utterly uncontroversial. Filibusters against district court nominees are virtually unheard of, and none has ever succeeded, but until yesterday afternoon the prospect of the total collapse of this Senate tradition was very real…
At the last minute, though, after a tidal wave of national disgust directed at Republican tactics, a deal was cut to allow some nominations to go forward. Twelve district court and two circuit court nominees have been promised votes before May 7. We are cautiously hopeful that the deal will hold. For those 14 men and women and for the 14 courts that finally get a judge, the news is good. It’s a small, but important, step forward.
At the same time that we acknowledge the constructive side of the deal, it’s important to remember that when the deal was struck, there were actually 22 nominees on the Senate floor awaiting a final vote, which means eight have been left behind with fundamentally the same characteristics as the ones moving forward: well qualified, stuck without a vote for long periods, some from seats labeled judicial emergencies, and certain to win confirmation if they were given the vote to which they are entitled.
Let’s Make a Deal: The Judicial Nominations Battle Is Not Over
Jesse Furman, 39, a federal prosecutor in New York who clerked for Bush administration Attorney General Mike Mukasey and had sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee five months ago only to be blocked from his appointment by President Obama to serve as a judge for the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York, finally won Senate approval on Friday.
Furman’s confirmation, coupled with the nearly-unanimous approval a day earlier of another Obama nominee, Cuban-born Adalberto Jordan, suggests that congressional Republicans might be rethinking their strategy of lock-step obstruction of the president’s judicial nominations, which many argue has led to a vacancy crisis.
Both of the confirmed nominees had personal ties to the Republican Party, however, and celebrating their confirmations as ushering in a new era of bipartisan cooperation would be a mistake.
From the Democratic Governors Association:
Democratic governors have been on a roll lately – creating jobs, investing in schools, and correcting the lies that Republicans are spreading about President Obama.
Watch the video, then sign our petition demanding GOP governors stop the partisanship and start creating jobs.
Republicans Finally Realize They’re Helping Obama
President Obama has rehabilitated his own political standing in large part by highlighting the opposition of congressional Republicans. The Republican strategy has been to block and delay Obama’s agenda at every turn, and Obama has absorbed most of the backlash from a public that tends to hold the president singularly responsible for all political outcomes. Obama’s campaign of publicly highlighting Republican opposition has simultaneously helped to absolve him of at least part of the blame and made him look more like a strong leader.
The Judicial Confirmation Crisis in One Easy Chart
The dotted line marks 24 days, the average time George W. Bush’s nominees – by this point in his presidency —had to wait between being approved by the Judiciary Committee and getting an up-or-down vote from the full Senate. The blue lines represent the number of days each of the nineteen nominees currently waiting for a Senate vote has been stalled. The dark blue lines – seventeen out of the nineteen – represent nominees who were approved with overwhelming bipartisan support by the Judiciary Committee. These nominees have no recorded Republican opposition – instead, the GOP is stalling them just for the sake of stalling.
Fourteen of the nineteen nominees are women or people of color. Nine have been nominated to fill seats officially designated as judicial emergencies. All of them deserve prompt up-or-down votes from the Senate.
Data from the Alliance for Justice’s “Judicial Selection Project.” The GOP has been relentlessly blocking President Obama’s judicial nominees, which in turn delays hearings, trials, and justice.
McConnell’s Revisionist History: Congress Gave Obama Everything He Wanted!
This isn’t a new claim for McConnell, but it’s audacious even by Washington’s lax standards. It was McConnell, after all, who led Senate Republicans in serial filibusters — a record-setting number — successfully thwarting large chunks of Obama’s agenda.
By forcing Democrats to find 60 votes to nearly every action, McConnell and his members were able to block major initiatives including climate change and immigration reform bills, various appropriations bills, myriad presidential appointments, and arguably also a Democratic effort to let the Bush tax cuts expire for high incomes. Meanwhile, big legislative items that did pass, such as health care reform and the economic stimulus package, were notably scaled back as a result of the GOP filibusters.
Congressman Henry Waxman (D - CA), who’s clearly had enough of the GOP’s shit.
In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama called for an end to the unprecedented obstruction of judicial and executive branch nominees.
Roughly ten percent of federal court seats are or will soon be vacant, including 32 seats that have been designated “judicial emergencies” by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. As a result of unprecedented obstruction by Senate Republicans, President Obama’s circuit court nominees have waited an average of 136 days for a vote from the full Senate after approval from the Judiciary Committee, in contrast to an average of 30 days for President Bush’s nominees. District court nominees have waited an average of 90 days for a vote from the full Senate under President Obama, in contrast to 22 days under President Bush.
“President Obama is right to call for an end to such irresponsible and politically-motivated obstruction of his nominees,” said Marge Baker of People For the American Way. “For too long, the GOP has gotten away with its destructive agenda of obstruction, which has left more than 1 out of 10 federal judgeships vacant and resulted in unconscionable delays for Americans seeking their day in court. Laws exist to protect all of us, and courts are where the 99% and the 1% stand as equals. But even the best of laws don’t count for much if there aren’t enough judges to enforce them. Republicans in the Senate must start doing the job the American people hired them to do. The American courts are no place for partisan politics.”
PFAW Praises President’s Call for End to Nominations Obstruction
Poll: Obama’s approval rating stable; Americans want compromise
Mr. Obama’s approval rating is highly subject to partisanship, with 78 percent of Democrats voicing approval while an overwhelming 83 percent of Republicans disapprove. Independents are more divided, with 47 percent saying they disapprove and 45 percent saying they approve.
However, the poll does suggest Americans are happier with Mr. Obama’s attempts to reach across the aisle and work with his political opponents. Most - six in 10 - said the president is trying to work with Republicans in Congress in order to get things done, and many say that effort is not reciprocated.
Only 27 percent of those surveyed said they thought Republicans in Congress are trying to work with President Obama.
“Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.”
