Posted by Moonage on 21 Jan 2006 | Tagged as: National Politics
Based on the fiasco that was the Sam Alito confirmation process, I think the Democrats will attempt to save face by filibustering the entire thing. Which, I also predict will go over about as well as the confirmation process has so far.
I’m not alone feeling that way.
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on 21 Jan 2006 at 10:42 pm 1.StormWarning
said …
I hope that you’re wrong. From what I can tell from watching the hearings, he’s very conservative, but so “over the top” that he shouldn’t be confirmed.
I’d hope that the “Gang of 14″ would make it possible to avoid much “unpleasantry.”
on 22 Jan 2006 at 12:20 am 2.Moonage
said …
I’m going to assume you meant “NOT so over the top”. I truly think if he were, the ABA wouldn’t have given him such a strong endorsement. I have never considered the ABA to be a conservative group.
I’m going to guess the Gang of 14 will once again recognize the ugliness of an unwarranted and unwanted filibuster will just make the Dems look even worse on this issue than they already do. However, that doesn’t mean Kennedy et al won’t try. Even trying can make this look worse than it needs to.
And besides, apparently the latest Democrat tactic is attacking Republicans for “taking six weeks off for vacation instead of addressing the corruption of their party”. Seems to me filibustering would just be the Democrats forcing the Senate to take more time off instead of addressing the security of our country ( can’t forget the impending Patriot Act debate ). So, I think it will die on the vine, but they will try anyway.
on 22 Jan 2006 at 7:25 am 3.StormWarning
said …
Yes, I omitted the “not” in “not so over the top.” That’s what I clearly meant. I watched Alito on CSPAN during most of the hearings.
He’s definitely a conservative, and more conservative (on the surface at least) than Roberts. He’s certainly (on the surface) more conservative than O’Connor.
I just shouldn’t post that late at night, especially after….errr…so many “pops.”
on 22 Jan 2006 at 7:31 pm 4.StormWarning
said …
Thankfully, I guessed right. It looks like the "Gang of 4" is going to prevent a filibuster and that Alito will be confirmed.
Gang of 14 defused threat of filibusters
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/NEWS06/601220493/1012/NEWS06
They call themselves the Gang of 14. Their deal eight months ago kept alive the possibility of filibusters against judicial nominees, but made them much harder to wage.
As a result, it looks like Alito will thread the Senate needle. Democrats are likely to muster more than 40 votes against him in the 100-member Senate. That’s enough under Senate rules to sustain a filibuster — endless debate in an effort to kill his nomination.
But there is no evidence that they will filibuster, and he’s likely to be confirmed on a largely party-line vote.
The Judiciary Committee, which has 10 Republicans and eight Democrats — is expected to approve Alito’s nomination Tuesday in a party-line vote. The full Senate is expected to debate and vote on the nomination later in the week.
For that the Gang of 14 can claim considerable credit. They may have set a new standard for the confirmation of Supreme Court justices — or restored an old one where bipartisan comity prevailed.
Simply put, the Gang of 14 agreed that only under "extraordinary circumstances" should a Senate minority attempt to block a judicial nomination by filibuster…[more]
Alito may not be a perfect nominee. I’m not sure that any judge or person is a perfect nominee. Aside from the fact that it is the President’s authority to make nominations to the Supreme Court while in office, I want to believe that Alito, like many other Justices, will judge on the merits of the case before him.
I think that the other point that I’d like to express is that the "Gang of 14" represents the type of statesmanship and diplomacy that our government is meant to embody. Say what you will otherwise, but Senators like McCain and Lieberman and the rest all very likely did this country a tremendous service when they reached their agreement on "extraordinary circumstances."
The Republic will survive even this.
on 22 Jan 2006 at 7:44 pm 5.StormWarning
said …
And I pushed the send button way too fast and forgot this link to the Legal Times.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1137751518097
…The causes are myriad, but the result seems clear: Alito’s opponents threw everything they had at him and nothing worked. He is now virtually guaranteed to be confirmed…
…numbers tell the story in almost every judicial nomination. The party in power in the Senate, especially if that party controls the White House, always gets its man — at least it has since 1930…
IMO, Senators like Schumer and Kennedy missed the mark on this one. And Biden, quite likely the smartest of the bunch, got so self-absorbed that he never asked any real questions. With performances like this one, I can’t imagine the Democrats re-taking the White House (I simply don’t see a compelling candidate).
Of course, the results of the ‘06 mid-term elections could influence ‘08.
on 27 Jan 2006 at 9:37 am 6.Moonage Political Webdream
said …
John Kerry will filibuster Alito
A few days ago, I predicted the Dems would attempt to filibuster Alito, and it would fail badly. Enter John Kerry:At the beginning of the 4pm hour of CNN’s The Situation Room, Congressional correspondent Ed Henry reported that Senator John