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Democrats won a Pyrrhic victory yesterday when the Bush Administration bowed to the inevitable and allowed judicial nominee Miguel Estrada to withdraw his name from nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Thus does the filibuster rear its ugly head once again in the Senate. The modern filibuster is only a virtual filibuster. In the old days, the filibusterer had to actually stand up and talk for hours on end, like Senator Jimmy Stewart did (heroically) in the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," or like Senator Strom Thurmond did (ignominiously) in his fight...

<p>After several failed attempts by Senate Republicans to break a Democratic filibuster, it's starting to look as if Miguel Estrada may never make it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The controversial Bush nominee may have to settle for the strangest of consolation prizes: his name plastered on bumper stickers in the 2004 election.</p>

Louisiana House of Representatives passes resolution requesting U.S. Senate to allow Estrada vote.WASHINGTON - On April 22, the Louisiana House of Representatives passed House Resolution 29, a resolution demonstrating that state's strong support of the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Estrada is President Bush's nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals based in Washington, D.C. His nomination has been held up for well over a year.Since Feb. 6th, the Senate has spent nearly 100 hours debating the Estrada nomination. The anti-Estrada obstructionism comes at a time when the country is wrapping...

<p>WASHINGTON--The plight of Miguel Estrada is a national disgrace. The confirmation to the D.C. Circuit of this highly talented lawyer is being aborted by a Democratic opposition bent on preventing the president and a majority of the Senate from staffing the federal courts as the Constitution requires. And the Democratic "spoiling" method--filibusters, as presently conducted and entrenched in Senate rules--are arguably in violation of the Constitution.</p>

Statement by the President In Focus: Judicial Nominations Miguel Estrada is a well-qualified nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals who has been waiting nearly two years for an up or down vote in the United States Senate. The decision today by 44 Senators to continue to filibuster and block a vote on this nomination is a disgrace. The Senate has a responsibility to exercise its constitutional advice and consent function and hold an up or down vote on a judicial nominee within a reasonable time. Some Senators who once insisted that every appeals court nominee deserves a timely vote...

'Splainin' the GOP Estrada Strategery Let's retrace our steps here on this Miguel Estrada business from last week because this is what caused hell to break loose. There was a Fox News story on Friday that said essentially that the Republican Senate leadership had decided they weren't going to win this battle, so they were going to call for a cloture vote, with only 55 votes for Estrada, which would mean he would lose. This would also mean that the Democrats would be successful in corrupting the Constitution. The Constitution says that judges need only a simple majority, 51 votes...

The United States Senate, often thought of as the world’s greatest deliberating body, has an interesting idiosyncrasy which can hold up the entire process of debating and passing legislation.  This potential clog in the plumbing of legislating is called the filibuster.  Basically, the filibuster is the ability of one or more senators to hold the floor and refuse to yield it to another senator from the opposing view.  The senator or group continuously talks until the bill is dropped, the senators get tired of talking, or a supermajority votes to stop them.  This paper will explore the filibuster, taking special...

Live stream from C-SPAN Comments and discussion of the live coverage of the continuing Estrada filibuster.

<p>HUME: Senator, how hard are Republicans prepared to fight, and for how long, to end the filibuster against the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada?</p> <p>ROBERTS: That's a pretty sad commentary. It's not only Estrada. You're getting my dander up now. It's not only Estrada; it is a new standard. If this sticks, if the filibuster sticks, it will mean that you will have to have 60 votes for any nominee. We are really changing the constitutional design of what it takes to basically nominate and approve any judge. That's the big issue, as well as Estrada. So, we're going to keep fighting.</p>

<p>Is Miguel Estrada a right-wing nut? That's the essence of the charge made by Democratic Senators filibustering his appeals-court nomination.</p> <p>To answer that cosmic question, the Senators insist they need access to memos Mr. Estrada wrote while working in the Clinton Justice Department--knowing full well that no President is going to hand over such confidential internal documents.</p>

The Estrada Lambada In 1987, the Democrats scored their first major in the judicial wars by defeating the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. These were the glory days of the Democratic party. They overwhelmingly ruled the House of Representatives and held a 55-45 majority in the Senate. They were able to quickly mobilize a large coalition of minority, women's and civil rights groups to fight the Bork nomination. This coalition was joined by a host of environmental, health, labor, and consumer groups, ranging from the Sierra Club to Planned Parenthood. The final vote was essentially along...

I had an idea on how to deal with this Democratic obstructionism in the Senate back when they threatened to filibuster until the GOP gave them extra representation on the committees and subcommittees. The Limbaugh Strategy was called "hardball" by Mort Kondrake, and it was! The Democrats play hard, so should we. It will work on Miguel Estrada, if these guys on Capitol Hill have the guts to pull it off. Senators Bill Frist and Orrin Hatch and whoever else in the Republican side of the Senate wants to do it, simply needs to go over to the House of...

<p>It's time Republicans learned to play hardball. Democrats don't really want to filibuster Miguel Estrada's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They aren't anxious to stay up all night and give marathon speeches on the dangers Mr. Estrada purportedly poses to the Republic. Tom Daschle needs his beauty rest, after all.</p>

If Hollywood ever makes a movie about the Senate melodrama over federal court nominee Miguel Estrada, the filmmakers can call it Mr. Seinfeld Goes to Washington.The sitcom star who's all about nothing is well suited to portray a Senate minority leader who's leading a filibuster about... nothing?Tom Daschle and the Democrats say that Estrada, nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is a "stealth candidate," an under-the-radar conservative whom President Bush is trying to sneak through the confirmation process without the normal vetting.If Estrada had been nominated after the GOP took control...

The next target for Republican strategists seeking to peel away Democratic senators to confirm Miguel Estrada as a federal appeals judge is also the next Democrat to announce for president: Sen. Bob Graham of Florida. Florida's junior senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, Tuesday became the 55th senator to come out for breaking the filibuster against Estrada. Republicans hoped Graham would follow, but that position might antagonize liberal interest groups important in a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. With 60 votes needed for cloture, other Democratic senators who might yet abandon the party's stand against Estrada include Ernest F. Hollings of...

Radio Campaign Begins in VermontA.R. releases radio ads in Vermont highlighting Pat Leahy's contradiction in words & actions as he leads the ongoing filibuster against Miguel Estrada's judicial confirmation.Listen to the Ad!

Senate Democrats have picked up where they left off before taking a week long Presidents Day recess: filibustering a vote on the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the federal appeals court. Republicans can count on enough votes from senators to confirm Estrada, but Democrats are refusing to end the floor debate - which takes 60 votes under Senate rules - and allow a confirmation vote. Their arguments against Estrada don't hold water, and Senate Democrats - including South Dakota Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson - should end the debate and vote on the Estrada nomination.President George W. Bush on...

Sen. Ted Kennedy's vengeful filibuster of Bush administration court nominee Miguel Estrada is a disgrace to the Senate's judicial process and an affront to the American people. Kennedy's waging war on President Bush and his conservative ideology, more so than Estrada's qualifications to serve on the U.S. District of Columbia appeals court. The liberal icon said he won't stand for a succession of conservative Bush appointments, fearing someday one might make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. So he's singling out Estrada, a conservative Latino immigrant who Kennedy himself calls "intelligent." This vindictive strategy is repulsive to people of all...

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...

Another card for the Republicans to play is for Vice President Cheney to assert a long-dormant power as President of the Senate. The last time this was done was by Vice President Nixon, who ordered the 1957 Civil Rights bill directly to the Senate floor, by-passing the Judiciary Committee. How do I know this? I wrote Back to Basics for the Republican Party (http://www.republicanbasics.com/ The book is a history of the GOP from the Republican point of view. Here's how it goes. Dick Cheney takes the chair to preside over the Senate, his rulings being confirmed by simple majority vote,...