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Idiot GOP Senate Set to Shaft Estrada?
rushlimbaugh ^ | 2/28/2003 | rushlimbaugh

Posted on 02/28/2003 5:57:59 PM PST by TLBSHOW

I am more frosted at the Democrats for what they're doing to the Constitution vis-à-vis Miguel Estrada's than I am over the anti-war movement. Fox News reported that the GOP planned to call for a cloture vote on Estrada next week knowing they'd lose it. That would effectively amend the Constitution - illegally - to read that you need 60 votes instead of 51 to get a judicial nomination through.

Happily, it turns out the GOP isn't going to call such a vote. The offices of Senators Santorum and Hatch rang up my office on Friday, and said that the Fox story is not accurate. There will be no cloture vote. Hooray! If these Democrats want to filibuster the first Hispanic nominee to the D.C. Circuit Court, let them do it! I know they say there are new rules making a filibuster harder, but so what? And don't tell me that it's not "practical" anymore, because people have to go to the bathroom. That's nothing new.

Force them to get out there and filibuster this eminently qualified man, as rated unanimously by the American Bar Association. Miguel Estrada is just a name to us, but his life is being destroyed here. It's not because he's unqualified; it's because Democrats don't like how he might think. Read George Will's column. Chuck Schumer didn't bother to ask Estrada a single question. He claims not to know any less qualified judge, when in fact he knows less qualified judges who went to the Supreme Court! Just this week, President Bush pledged to stand by Estrada until he was sworn in. We know no other nominee has been asked to give nor should give opinions on issues that may come before the court. Their job is to apply the law, not to make law or let their opinions get in the way of rulings.

These senators have to back Bush and Estrada up. The Democrat attitude is, "We ran Washington for 40 years up until 1994, and Bush is illegitimate despite what the Constitution says about the Electoral College, so he has no right to appoint anyone." These people are treating the Constitution like toilet paper. Calling a cloture vote would overturn more than two centuries of Senate precedent and rewrite the constitutional definition of "advise and consent." We cannot allow that to happen. You have to care about this, folks!

These people aren't Democrats or liberals. They don't believe in the Constitution. They don't believe in individual rights, as affirmed in the 9th Amendment; in sharing power with the states, as described in the 10th Amendment; in free political speech protected in the 1st Amendment and shredded in campaign finance reform. They don't support the right to bear arms provided for in the 2nd Amendment. They don't respect private property rights protected by the 5th Amendment! If there's a blade of grass in the backyard, they call it "wetlands" and take it away! This assault must stop.

Listen to Rush...

(...react to the Fox News story, and reject the notion of a cloture vote by the GOP) (...demand Democrats be made to pay a price for shredding the Constitution)

Read More of Rush's Estrada Coverage… (Rush On A Roll: Anatomy of a Smear) (Rush On A Roll: Want Estrada? Declare Linda Daschle DOA) (The Limbaugh Library: Ken Starr Tips Us Off on Estrada) (EIB A-B: Estrada Qualifications Blow Away Breyer and Ginsburg)

Read the Questionable Fox News Article...

(FoxNews: Republicans Seek to End Debate on Estrada)

Read the George Will Column on Estrada...

(Washington Post: Coup Against the Constitution - George F. Will)


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: constitution; estradafilibuster; filibuster; gop; rushlimbaugh; senatedemocrats
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To: TLBSHOW
a "cloture" vote on an appellate court nominee would overturn more than two centuries of Senate precedent and rewrite the constitutional definition of "advise and consent."

I don't understand that. Are you saying the filibuster of Abe Fortas was unconstitutional? Why isn't that a precedent?

181 posted on 03/01/2003 8:16:17 AM PST by aristeides
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To: deport
here is the whole story from fox now...


Republicans Try to Break Filibuster on Estrada

Friday, February 28, 2003

WASHINGTON — Debate continues on the fate of President Bush's judicial nominee Miguel Estrada after Senate Republicans and the White House wrestled Thursday with a fateful choice — whether to call for a vote to break the Democratic filibuster or string out debate with no-near term hope of victory.





Calling for a vote is fraught with peril, but GOP Senate leaders say they plan to do it, they just aren't sure when.

The vote will be legislative history. The decision to call for a "cloture" vote on an appellate court nominee would overturn more than two centuries of Senate precedent and rewrite the constitutional definition of "advise and consent."

Republicans would need 60 votes to break the filibuster and they know they don't have them. The move toward a defeat on the floor next week could doom Estrada, one of Bush's lawyers in the Supreme Court case that determined his presidency.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he sees no other options but to press for a vote to break the Democrats' filibuster. A decision is expected Monday and a vote could come as early as mid-week next week.

"The ball is in the Democrats' court and they've chosen to play in a way that to get a filibuster to be broken, our only procedural move can be a cloture vote," Frist said. "Our goal is to have him confirmed and we will continue to use every procedural tool we possibly can. We certainly won't be voting on cloture tomorrow we may early part of next week."

But Frist emphasized that a vote to break the filibuster would not mark the end of the Estrada struggle.

"I would think the battle is just beginning. At that juncture, we would know who we need to talk to. I've got a feeling, I've got a sense that Democrats are entrenched, and our goal is to pull them out of those trenches. It may take a few days. It may take a few weeks — it may take months — but it's my goal to pull them out of those trenches," Frist said.

So far, Republicans are only guaranteed 55 votes to confirm Estrada, who would be the first Hispanic on the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. If there were no filibuster, that would be enough to get him confirmed.

"The last thing we want to do is to raise the bar for this particular nominee to 60 votes. Obviously, we can't stay on this issue forever," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., speaking with a tone of defeat already expressed by several Republicans.

"Miguel Estrada could lose," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

"I feel sorry for his family. I feel sorry for him. I only hope that if they succeed in denying him this, that he will not assume that we are like that," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

Democrats said they would drop their filibuster if Estrada would answer more questions about his judicial philosophy.

The Justice Department also turned over internal memos Estrada wrote as a deputy solicitor general in the Clinton Justice Department. Every living solicitor general — seven total — opposes turning over working memos.

Democrats also denied that their actions are in any way hindering the work of the Senate.

"We know we have a problem with the Estrada nomination, but we're not trying to delay it in any way. We've allowed the committees to go forward, we've tried to cooperate with the majority leader anytime he has other legislation to bring forward, and we'll continue to do that," said Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Fox News' Major Garrett contributed to this report.

http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,79845,00.html

182 posted on 03/01/2003 8:17:09 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: aristeides
for a real good read check out these...this is what is happening.

The Senate, the President, and Judges

The Seventeenth Amendment in giving Senators the power to by- pass state interests and pander to citizen constituency interests only heightens and hastens the march to socialism. Our nation has different interests as has been explained previously and to remain a republic we must have separate powers looking after those interests.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/843984/posts



183 posted on 03/01/2003 8:24:33 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: aristeides
another classic from O'Reilly...here

Hey, it's personal (If you can't win the debate, smear your opponent)
townhall ^ | March 1, 2003 | Bill O'Reilly

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/854348/posts?page=1

184 posted on 03/01/2003 8:25:50 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: Jonez712
if you keep the dems up all night then you keep the repubs up all night too...they don't like that
185 posted on 03/01/2003 8:30:20 AM PST by Bill Davis FR
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To: TLBSHOW; chnsmok
So I was wrong and the fox story was wrong where I based my thoughts on this from this.

But was I?

This is why the bashing. He earns it with unsubstantiated innuendo. "But was I?" hanging out there as if he knows something we all don't.

The fact is, the thread the apology was on (and may I say that I pointed out immediately that Rush was under a false impression and this poster mocked that, yet he didn't see fit to apologize to me personally after Rush admitted he had, indeed, been under a false impression), that original thread was based on a NRO story tht outlined Republican strategy on getting the Estrada nomination through. This Rush article would have been more appropriately tacked onto that thread.

186 posted on 03/01/2003 8:34:57 AM PST by cyncooper (God Be With President Bush)
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To: TLBSHOW
I think it's true that a Supreme Court made up of justices to whose appointment a Senate that truly represented states had consented would never have made the anti-state decisions that were made by the Warren Court in particular. I also think that the 17th Amendment seriously weakened the whole system of checks and balances: we now have two Houses of Congress whose members are elected directly, a president who is also elected, although with some elements of indirect election, and a federal judiciary staffed with judges appointed by elected presidents and consented to by elected senators. Everybody's appointment is linked too closely to popular election, and so the different branches of the federal government, instead of checking one another, now much more often operate in concert: Congress, in particular, prefers to evade responsibility by giving the power to reach unpopular decisions to the courts and the agencies, and the courts and agencies happily cooperate.

Since there is really no hope of reversing the 17th Amendment -- democracy is too much a part of the Zeitgeist -- I would restore checks by going even further in the direction of direct democracy. I would appoint the members of the lower houses of legislatures, including the U.S. House of Representatives, by lot instead of by election, thereby giving a veto power over federal legislation to a body made up of average citizens, rather than elected politicians.

187 posted on 03/01/2003 8:35:29 AM PST by aristeides
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To: Bill Davis FR
That is really sad and not to mention the GOP might have to work weekends. LOL
188 posted on 03/01/2003 8:36:38 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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OK, It is official I am confused. Who will be filibustering?

PS I resent having to learn how to spell filibuster!
189 posted on 03/01/2003 8:40:32 AM PST by Diana Rose (I hate all things french)
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To: aristeides; Fred Mertz; deport
reversing 17th amendment is a mission of freerepublic right here,,,,,,

We call for the repeal of the 17th amendment, which will reverse the independence of the Senate and reestablish the Senate as a representative of the State governments, as intended by the Founding Fathers. This arrangement was intended to be a critical check against illegal federal expansion over the States, and the people residing in the various States, and will act to return the powers not granted to the federal government, as enumerated in the Constitution, to the states.




http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:Z8ONsLYxLmQC:www.freerepublic.com/about.htm+reversing+the+17th+Amendment+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
190 posted on 03/01/2003 8:41:23 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: TLBSHOW
I agree that removing the 17th Amendment is highly desirable, but I just don't think it's within the realm of what's politically possible.
191 posted on 03/01/2003 8:43:03 AM PST by aristeides
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To: Bill Davis FR
if you keep the dems up all night then you keep the repubs up all night too...they don't like that

FYI Frist and Hatch have stated firmly that going 24/7 most definitely is an option they WILL employ if need be. They are reserving that option for now.

Perhaps you missed the late night session the other night when lots of Republicans were on hand and just a few dems. In fact they had to call hrc from her lair. My eyes were spared, fortunately, as Freeper descriptions of her appearance were quite creepy.

192 posted on 03/01/2003 8:48:36 AM PST by cyncooper (God Be With President Bush)
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To: aristeides
With what is going on with this (Idiot GOP Senate Set to Shaft Estrada? )

It should be top priority......
193 posted on 03/01/2003 8:49:05 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: cyncooper
employ if need be

;;;

it need be and that is already a fact.
194 posted on 03/01/2003 8:51:20 AM PST by TLBSHOW (God Speed as Angels trending upward dare to fly Tribute to the Risk Takers)
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To: TLBSHOW
Not in the opinion of your betters.
195 posted on 03/01/2003 8:52:35 AM PST by cyncooper (God Be With President Bush)
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To: aristeides
"I, for my part, am still not convinced that the story is false."

Even though Senators Hatch and Santorum say it is?
196 posted on 03/01/2003 8:52:46 AM PST by marajade
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To: TLBSHOW
How many state legislatures are controlled by the democrats? Would this be an Executive appt by the State, appt by the State Senate, approved by the Gov..... who would submit the Nominations?
197 posted on 03/01/2003 8:54:11 AM PST by deport (Where fools rush in..........)
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To: marajade; cyncooper
The mere fact that my so-called "betters" assert something is true is not enough by itself to convince me that it is.
198 posted on 03/01/2003 8:56:35 AM PST by aristeides
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To: TLBSHOW
You know the Reps can't get to 51 because two of our senators won't be there... You are misleading again...
199 posted on 03/01/2003 8:57:08 AM PST by marajade
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To: cyncooper
Not in the opinion of your betters.


LOL.... but only his opinion is what matters...... remember he knows it all because he has the 'gift'.......... It's very hard to keep the turnip truck in the garage.
200 posted on 03/01/2003 8:58:22 AM PST by deport (Where fools rush in..........)
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