Posted on 01/30/2006 2:36:06 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
WASHINGTON — Enough Senate Democrats had signed on by mid-vote Monday to prevent a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Sam Alito, virtually assuring the nomination would go to a full floor vote Tuesday ending with his confirmation.
When the vote is done, the Democrats will have joined with all 54 Republicans present to pass the 60-vote threshold to end debate, leading to a final floor vote Tuesday morning. Alito could be sworn in as early as noon Tuesday.
Earlier in the afternoon, members of the so-called Gang of 14 said they unanimously supported ending debate on Alito, The evenly politically split "Gang of 14" moderate senators met Monday afternoon to discuss how they would respond to liberal Democrats' efforts to filibuster Alito's nomination. All agreed they would move to quash a filibuster.
Prior to the vote, Sen. Arlen Specter, a pro-choice Republican and head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, hailed Alito as an "A-plus" candidate for the nation's highest court who was "well qualified" to be confirmed by the Senate.
The Gang of 14 was formed by senators seeking middle ground on judiciary nominees. A ground rule for allowing filibusters is if there are "extraordinary circumstances" surrounding the nominee. While the gang has never explicitly defined what an extraordinary circumstance would be, members privately said there were none regarding Alito, who has sat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for 15 years
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Between Dean, Kerry, and Senator Swimmer has Christmas come early?
Some comments from Kos. Pardon the language, but that's the norm there......
I don't understand why the Bolshecrats fight so hard for the right to filibuster advise and consent candidates. They cannot possibly think they can get enough votes of their own to override any future filibuster, and, they have virtually guaranteed their own nominees will be filibustered. It would make sense for them to allow the constitutional option to pass. It will be at least 2012 before they could possibly have enough votes to get their nominees through, and, I do not see them having the option to make nominations.
Anyway, I don't see any of them promising to reinstate the filibuster on their watch.
The "gang of 14" pledged there would be no filibusters except for "extraordinary" reasons. The fact is that ANY filibuster against a judicial nominee is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution requires supermajority votes in seven circumstances - and judicial confirmations is NOT one of them. We all rejoice that Alito will be confirmed but let's not leave the job unfinished. Let's pressure our congressmen to act on Rule 22 and ABOLISH the filibuster - which can be done by simple majority vote. There may be other nominations made in the near future - and why should we be held hostage to this unconstitutional senatorial obscurantism? And I would say the same regardless of which party holds a majority -- if it's wrong, it's wrong for both parties and it's wrong for both because it's clearly UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
He's just doing what comes naturally, ask the Swifies
Hey, give credit where credit is due...remember the last time he tried to lead troops? He lost the 2004 election by 3.5 million votes. And before that, when he tried to recruit his former Swift Boat shipmates? And all but one or two told him where to stick it? So, getting half of his fellow Democrats to go his way shows real progress...but it also shows a lot more common sense among the other half of his Democratic senate colleagues. Just tryin' to be fair, here....
Can't be
Too many on this site said Bush should have stayed with his female aide --a nice safe choice
I guess they deserve what they get.
LOL! Yeah. Great, isn't it?
Let's hope Alito performs as advertised.
After all this, I'd hate to be in his shoes if he doesn't!
With only (4) conservatives on the court (Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts), what's the big deal? Kennedy seems to swing liberal and with O'Connor gone, will love to assume that "swing vote" role so as to get fawning coverage in the WAPO and NY Slimes.
So, how does this make it a 'conservative court?'
"Alito on the Way to Confirmation"
And it only took 2 months! /derisive sarcasm.
Really three months. He was nominated on Oct 31st, so that makes three.
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