Senator Cornyn(TX):The Constitution and the Judiciary - Where's the check on Senate filibusters?

Wall Street opinionjournal.com ^ | May 6, 2003 | Senator John Cornyn (TX)

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This week, the Senate marks a dismal political anniversary: Two years of partisan obstruction of President Bush's judicial nominees, culminating in two unprecedented filibusters. More are threatened. Never before has the judicial confirmation process been so broken, and the constitutional principles of judicial independence and majority rule so undermined.

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[lilylangtree]

Congress will have to recess at some point. When that happens, the prez can do what clintoon did--make recess appointments. Don't get mad, get even!

[1Old Pro]

A bttt in hopes of some cajones on the GOP side of the aisle to get these people confirmed......by any means.

[snopercod]

Impressive bibliography. Thanks.

Where are the Republican ads on Univision over this? No money or no spine?

[eureka!]

'A bttt in hopes of some cajones on the GOP side of the aisle to get these people confirmed......by any means.'

Hear, hear. I got my monthly solicitation from the RNC and sent it back empty with notations, circling the BS about needing to support W, noting "why me when the Senate GOP does not?". I said further that W's reelection committee will get all the $$ I can afford and the RNC gets zilch until Estrada/Owens are confirmed. I said a whole lot more, too. It felt good. Hope it does some good....

[AbsoluteJustice]

Soooooo MR. CORNYN WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO ABOUT THIS??

Continue writing worthless words in the newspaper and get sympathy or tell your republican leaders to grow a spine and lock up the Senate in continual debate until they fold!!!!!

[deport]

When that happens, the prez can do what clintoon did--make recess appointments.

---

He has made some recess appointments but none in the Judiciary.... Other than Roger Gregory what other Judges did Clinton recess appoint? There have been some 120 Judges confirmed by the Senate since President Bush was inaugurated.... only two have failed so far to get an up/down vote... Estrada/Owen. All isn't lost.

[Jack Black]

Recess appointments expire. Approved ones do not.

[Lil'freeper]

The suggestions were pretty reasonable up until this one:

• Sen. Charles Schumer advocates an overhaul of the nomination process by eliminating the president's appointment power and instead giving President Bush and Sen. Daschle "equal roles in picking the judge-pickers."

As if anyone will believe that was Schumer's idea. Little Tommy put him up to it, dontcha know. The rats will never understand that the Constitution 'aint broke' and doesn't need any 'fixing'. They just need to suck it up and call for the vote.

[AMNZ]

On the one hand, it's great to see people like Graham(FL) and Landreau p'ing off a bunch of people - More republicans after next election. On the other hand, it just shows that being a nice guy RINO is not going to get anything done as a Senate leader.

[alwaysconservative]

What is Senator Cornyn's email address? I would like to share Congressman BillyBob's solution with him that would end these shenanigans NOW!

“This [the filibustering] is a problem that must be solved, one way or another, within the Senate. The cleanest way is for a Senator to raise a Point of Order during the debate on Estrada or Owen, that "The Cloture Rule cannot be applied to a judicial confirmation because it violates Article II, Section 2, clause 2, which provides for a simple majority decision on such nominations."

For this important purpose, Dick Cheney should be in the Chair as President of the Senate. He then rules without debate (since Points of Order are non-debatable), that, "Rule XXII cannot be applied to judicial nominations because it violates the majority vote requirement."

Rulings of the Chair can only be overturned by a majority vote of the Senators present. Since the Democrats cannot muster a majority against such a ruling, the filibuster will then be dead for all time with respect to all judicial nominees. Then, if the Democrats don't like that result, they can take it to court and be pitched out on their ears. “

Sounds good to me.

[okie01]

Interesting, isn't it, that Cornyn, a freshman senator, is taking a leadership role in spotlighting the Democrat obstruction?

This subcomittee strikes me as a good idea. It will force the Democrats into the open -- having to somehow defend their actions. The question is whether Cornyn will get any media coverage for his efforts.

[Nick Danger]

only two have failed so far to get an up/down vote... Estrada/Owen. All isn't lost.

Exactly. This is a game, folks. It's a charade being put on by the Democrats to show their base what tough, principled liberals they are. They obstruct two judges, the press reports only on the two judges, and the Democrats out in the hinterlands think their courageous Senators are out there fightin' crime on their behalf.

Meanwhile, the last time I looked, Bush has gotten 122 judges confirmed. There are 83 still to go, so we're 60% of the way there. If that's coming as a surprise to anyone, welcome to the wonderful world of Democratic Media, where Democrats always win. You wouldn't believe the media if they told you the war was a quagmire; don't believe everything you read on this, either.

Frist will continue to schedule cloture votes on Estrada and Owen, and the Democrats will continue to score Great Victories, which will be promptly trumpeted in the media. In return for this, everybody else gets through.

Please cool all jets. The object of this game is not to ram through two judges. It's to get 205 of them confirmed. This is happening as we speak, no matter what the media is telling you. Remember, it's not the media's job to tell you what's going on. The media's job is to trumpet the accomplishments of Democrats, and to tell you horrible things about Republicans. If you need anything else, you'll just have to track it by yourself. You can do that here.

The time will come to raise serious Holy Hell about Estrada and Owen, but right now we only need enough Holy Hell to make it sound like we're suffering pain. We gotta do that or the Democrats will have to pick a third judge to screw with. So long as we suffer and moan over the two they're already blocking, the media charade works and the Democrats are happy.

As for altering the rules on filibusters, let's be careful what we wish for. The Democrats ran the Congress for 40 years, and the filibuster was all we had. We may need it again someday.

[CyberAnt]

Ditto!!

[cksharks]

From what Ive heard they have picked three more to filibuster. So your theory goes down the crapper.

[geedee]

Agreed! I voted for Cornyn because any pubbie was better than any dim-demmer . . . but if conservatives are depending on him to do anything drastic or cause any waves, take a number, a sack lunch, a sleeping bag, and the patience of Job because you're gonna be waiting awhile.

I had a few "personal" run-ins with him when he was the AG in Texas -- trying to get dead-beat parents to belly up to the bar so the public dole wasn't used unnecessarily. It eventually got better but, although Cornyn's office claimed massive amounts of credit, IMHO, osmosis and bad publicity was the main reason his office got off the dime.

Cornyn is a great bureaucrat and a fair TV personality and "might" one day turn into a fair politician . . . but, based on my experiences, he's got the cojones of a white-tailed doe.

[Nick Danger]

From what Ive heard they have picked three more to filibuster. So your theory goes down the crapper.

Wow, I guess so. You heard something, eh? Damn, I did not know that.

[cksharks]

What ever!

[deport]

I suspect Pickering will be one to be filibustered also... And I've read about one in CA, Carolyn Kuhl that may also be on the list.

[Renatus]

Rush said today that Senator Talent from Missouri has come up with a possible solution and somehow Paul Wyrick is involved. Something like--after a cloture vote a senator would challenge the vote on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The parlimentarian would then call the senator out of order. Then the parlimentarian's decision would be appealed. And then an up or down vote could take place. However, 51 solid votes would have to be there for it to work. I don't know anything about this kind of
stuff but it sure sounded interesting coming from Rush this
PM.