Senate Democrats Think They Can Block Pickering

Reuters ^ | January 9, 2003 | Thomas Ferraro

[Dog Gone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key Senate Democrats, eager for a high-profile debate on civil rights, said on Thursday they believe they will have the votes needed to block the appointment of Charles Pickering, who was renominated this week by President Bush as a federal appeals court judge.

Republicans control the Senate, 51 to 48 with one independent but under Senate rules, Democrats would need just 41 votes to prevent confirmation of Pickering, whose appointment is strongly opposed by civil rights activists.

"I haven't done a count but my sense is that we will have 41 votes," said Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada.

The battle promises to be reminiscent of the racially charged furor that last month brought down Pickering's friend and fellow Mississippian, Trent Lott, as Senate Republican leader. Lott bowed to public pressure and stepped aside as leader after making remarks seen as supporting segregation.

Democrats are calculating that a Senate debate on Pickering could enhance their credentials as allies of minorities and undermine Republican efforts to reach out to them.

Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York agreed with Reid's assessment there would be the votes to block Pickering.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat helping lead the charge, said: "I'm hopeful, very hopeful. We are working on it hard. We are getting a very good response."

Republicans and Democrats traditionally permit up-or-down confirmation votes on the Senate floor on judicial nominees, and Republicans warned it would be a mistake for Democrats to stage a vote-blocking filibuster.

"If they hope to ever regain the Senate, they might want to think twice about this," Sen. Don Nickles, an Oklahoma Republican, said on Thursday. "Two can play this game."

Nickles said he was uncertain if Democrats could defeat Pickering with a filibuster, but he does not expect Bush to withdraw the nomination.

NOMINATION CARRIES A MESSAGE

"The president sent a message with the nomination that Pickering wasn't treated fairly by the last Senate and deserves to be voted on by the full Senate this time," said Nickles.

Last March, the Judiciary Committee, then led by Democrats, in a party-line vote rejected Bush's bid to elevate Pickering from a federal district judgeship in Mississippi to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The panel did so largely because of criticism of his civil rights record, which included his efforts as a judge to reduce the sentence of a man convicted in a 1994 cross-burning case.

Pickering was opposed by a number of groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Yet he was backed by some key community leaders in his home state, including Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. They noted the former state senator had the courage to oppose the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s.

Bush marked the opening of the new Republican-led Senate on Tuesday by renominating Pickering and 30 other judicial nominees who failed to get confirmation in the previous Democratic-led chamber.

The Congressional Black Caucus, which helped topple Lott, on Thursday took aim at Pickering as well as many of these other conservative nominees.

"Confirming many of these nominees ... could completely overturn the progress toward national reconciliation that our nation has made during the last 50 years," said Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the group's chairman. The caucus is composed of 39 members of the House of Representatives.

[BibChr]

YES!!! And like I said, his black supporters should be invited to the proceedings to DEMAND that their Demo "keepers" explain how their fat white butts can recognize a racist, when they (authentic actual black human beings) can't.

Dan

[Molly Pitcher]

If the Dems think they can block it now, when they're the Minority, why didn't they let it get out of the J. Committee for a vote on the floor, when they were in the Majority???? Hmmmmmm??

[toenail]

Democrats like it when abortionists kill black babies; Pickering doesn't like it when abortionists kill black babies. That's all this fight is about.

[Pietro]

"....them really filibuster the old fashioned way"

I like that. Then wait until they get to the really silly part of the filibuster, say Bird reminicing about his dog 'spook', and nail them w/ genuinely serious developments, as someone else said bombing Iraq.

[Dutch Boy]

By making the dems actually filibuster would take away one of their most powerful weapons. I say let them have it everytime they threaten to do it. It won't be long and they will be so exhausted and frustrated that they would have to change strategy.

[WOSG]

The Dem party is nothing but a high-output lie factory. And right now they are experiencing high inventories of the politics of personal destruction. Problem is, I'm not sure they are even able to sell this tripe even at deeply discounted prices. They can take their sale and shove it....

LOL, well said ... the Dems sure know how to fight anything and everything tooth and nail ... a filibuster for a lower court nominee??? unheard of before. Bunch of LIE-berals they are.

[Dog]

"I haven't done a count but my sense is that we will have 41 votes," said Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada.

Harry doesn't have the votes!

[MeekOneGOP]

Those dirty 'RATS !...

To: MeeknMing

Democrats are a strange bunch especially their leaders. They complain about politics of personnel destruction when that is how they try to divide the country. They have little pride in America, it seems that the American people serve for their pleasure only. If you don't cotton to the democratic line, you aren't American. They used the surplus for other countries and other people when there was much to do here at home. They take our best technologies and sell them to nations that will use the knowledge against us. They lack an enormous amount of integrity and don't seem to care as they flaunt sleazy ethics and morality in our faces.

We didn't have a government for the people under the Clinton administration, what we had was a Democrats Only need apply type of government and now they are attempting to replace a People's Government with their tired old arguments about an education system they didn't fix in 8 years, a health care program they messed up and couldn't fix in 8 years, a social security system they say needs fixing and did nothing about it in 8 years when in reality that system is fine as long as lawmakers don't spend the money that social security is meant for; they spent 8 years hiring federal workers with no qualifications as long as it meant a democratic vote leaving behind a dumbed down, bloated army of sleazy federal laborers who have plundered their departments of millions in dollars and equipment.

Democrats seem to have no respect, no real base from which true justice can spring, only justice that bends for them. They have no enthusiasm for country/nation, no pride, just the spoils from a rich nation for the DNC. They continue to huddle with shady and corrupt people both here in America and abroad for reasons that only benefit them. They are elitists and exclude the real Americans as they race for the Marxist Utopia they have dreamed about...where individual successes are discouraged in favor of a commune like population. They have learned nothing from failed socialism or failed communism; they still want to live like kings all the while painting a glowing picture of togetherness for the masses who work for them. It is called Slavery, servitude to a few at the top, domination over the people through higher taxes and rules and regulations. Democrats want a Unionized nation/world of bondage and they can surely have it by dividing the country with the deceptive lies they and the press propagandize with daily.

Stand tall Americans and stand firmly for the principals of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, both of which are like the fabled Vampires silver cross or spike to the leading democrats, they don't want you to have either; it is these people who would return this country to the quagmire of corruption of the Clinton/Gore/Reno years.

12 posted on 7/30/02 8:42 AM Central by yoe

I'm a GOOD 'RAT !

[MeekOneGOP]

[pabianice]

I hope the public gets a gut-full of the Dems shutting-down the Senate as we prepare to go to war.

[KarlInOhio]

Just so these so-called civil rights activists know...Pickering once testified AGAINST THE KKK at great peril to himself,and his family. They endured death threats & the like.SO, now EXPLAIN to me how he can be racist???

I want to see Klansman Byrd filibuster for 24 hours against Pickering. Hypocrisy might be the mother's milk of the Democratic party, but this would be too much even for them.

[plain talk]

"Yeah, and, Kevin, he's (psst) from Mississippi, you know. They're all racists (psst) down there in the south, you know. "

I just wish our side could explain effectively to the sheeple the bigotism the democratic party leadership exudes by labeling people according to their racial group, income group and geographical group. It's bigotism and primitive politics at its worst.

[Luis Gonzalez]

They want to start a dialogue on racism?

I say we start with this: "The Congressional Black Caucus".

Let's have the dialogue on national dialogue on this, let's ask black people in America how much better they are after decades of loyalty to the DNC.

[Kilborn]

This Dem agrees! While he has had problems, making this big a deal out of someone makes him bigger than he really is. The mid-terms proved we can't fight every battle, just the battles worth fighting for. Let him through and he will shoot himself in the foot sooner or later.

[BibChr]

They definitely need some anvils in their gloves.

Or heck -- even some fists would be nice!!

Dan

[TLBSHOW]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110002878

A special election held earlier this week revealed that some Democrats, at least, are still willing to wave the Confederate flag in hopes of winning elections. The race was in a state House a district in Walker County, an almost entirely white area bordering Tennessee. Republican Jay Neal had beaten incumbent Democrat Mike Snow by 195 votes, but a judge invalidated the November election because some voters had been incorrectly assigned to other voting districts.

This race couldn't have cost the Democrats the majority, but it could cost them control of the Georgia House of Representatives. A maverick Democrat is running against his party to be speaker of the House, and he has Republican support. That election is next week and the race is expected to be very close. The winner of the Snow vs. Neal race could tip the scales.

Clearly worried about the loss of Mr. Snow's seat, Democrats starting dotting lawns with signs like the one shown nearby, emphasizing Mr. Snow's frequent refusals to support Gov. Barnes' agenda, including changing the state flag. Local reporters say the signs may have played a role in shoring up Mr. Snow's support. He defeated Mr. Neal on Tuesday by 64 votes out of 7,900 cast.

"Who is exploiting the Confederate flag and racial symbolism to win races now?" asks Mr. Reed. The state Democratic Party couldn't be reached for comment late yesterday, but in a statement last November the party attacked Mr. Reed for "continuing the politics of division and hate as he plans to implement his minority voter intimidation plan."

In a statewide race, of course, Democrats need black votes, so Snow-style demagoguery is out of the question. Georgians may have reason to hope that the 2004 Senate candidates will wage a forward-looking campaign rather than refight the Civil War.

[Brian Allen]

<< The "congressional black caucus," which helped topple Lott .... >>

Rubbish. Republicans -- and his own bloody stupidity -- saw Lott off. We don't tolerate "DemocRAT" behavior in our ranks!

<< .... took aim at Pickering as well as many of these other conservative nominees .... >>

Who cares what that gang of racist bigots takes aim at? [Tawana Sharpton-Rodham for all we care] The United States Senate [Unless being run by America's first dictator, Yasser Daschle] Advises on and Consents to the President's judicial nominations.

[Sender]

This will be the warmup for the Supreme Court nominations.

Will the Supreme Court nominations face the same process? Can they be filibustered or Borked even with a Republican majority?

[PhiKapMom]

Certainly doesn't have the votes. Wonder what the RATs running in 2004 are thinking about now! Do they go down with the clinton ship or live on to fight another day?

[dead]

Let him through and he will shoot himself in the foot sooner or later.

What in Pickering's history leads you to this conclusion?

Give us some specific examples, if you have them.