Seven. Not a movie

Today, the Republicans did the right thing, and put things back to pre-2003.  Prior to 2003, judges were not filibustered.  The only one that came close was Abe Fortas back in the 60s, and it was to be a bipartisan filibuster, due to ethical issues.  The fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg got on the Court with a 96-3 vote speaks to the willingness of Republicans to allow a nominee that was well qualified, even though she was about as hard left as is possible, while still pretending to be "unbiased"

Which brings us to 2003.  What is special about that year?  Republicans held a narrow lead in the Senate, W was president.  In 2001, W nominated Miguel Estrada to the DC Circuit.  So for nearly two years, Democrats sat on the nomination.  Miguel Estrada was a brilliant immigrant from Honduras, ( I thought Dems loved immigrants, oh, wait, he was legal, never mind).  He had served as a US Attorney, and as the Associate Solicitor General under Bush 41.  So, now, with a majority, Republicans, stupidly, thought they could just bring him up for a vote, and that while it would probably be party line, would be confirmed.

WRONG!  Enter the filibuster. Who was in the minority again?  Oh yeah, Democrats.  Now why would they filibuster a wise Latino? (to paraphrase the now first Latina on the Supreme Court)  it wasn't even the Supreme Court!  It is because they knew he would likely be W's choice for the Supreme Court, if a vacancy occurred.  And they knew that if they allowed a vote to the DC Circuit, and he was confirmed, they couldn't have stopped him from getting on the Supreme Court.  AAANNNDDD, they would have been on record voting against a Latino, either for the DC Circuit, or the Supreme.

Cloture Vote  Rejected

Cloture Vote  Rejected

Cloture Vote  Rejected

 Cloture Vote  Rejected

Cloture Vote  Rejected

Cloture Vote  Rejected.

 Cloture Vote  Rejected.

He withdrew his name from consideration.  The toll the process had on him personally was horrible.  His wife miscarried during the process, and overdosed on alcohol and sleeping pills in 2004.

So now, as then, a clear majority supports the nominee.  If only Bill Frist R-TN, (the majority leader at the time) had done this back then....

It would be nice to go back to the question of qualification, rather than politics.  Won't happen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Civil Marriage: An Institution whose time has past?

Image
  Abstract              Marriage law is very much in the news. Court rulings have dramatically redefined marital law in the last fifteen years. Even church associations are not immune from this shift. But was it necessary, and is it the way forward? The question researched in this paper is the impact of attempting to codify into law what has traditionally been a religious rite, both on the institution of marriage itself, but on individual liberties as well. The paper will progress through the history of marital law and the rational used to establish those laws. I will demonstrate a cause and effect in redefining marriage and advance some statistics regarding these laws, and conclude with information about how, from a legal view, the traditional definition of marriage can be reinstated. Keywords:  same sex marriage, religious freedom, cohabitation, civil partnerships, redefining marriage Redefining Marriage through the...
Read more

Rand showed the way for small business. Is it time to act?

 As Democrats and Republicans in Blue states seek to consolidate power by shutting down small businesses, in the "Name" of COVID prevention, one must ask, is it time? Businesses, small businesses, are fighting against all odds to stay afloat. They are fighting and losing. But these are not impersonal entities, these mom and pop businesses are the lives of those who have built them. They have poured their lives into their businesses, and like any good parent, seeing their kid in the hospital will do anything to keep them alive. They will work themselves to death, just for their child to have one more breath. Those who see this pandemic and feel that it isn't the killer, but capitalism, are cheering the death along. They have nightly fantasies of Cloward and Piven, and the collapse of the economy. What even they need, though, are producers. They need people to continue the fight, to provide the last drop of fuel to propel them forward, even for just one more day. The powers...
Read more

The Brownback Effect, and why Donald Trump and those associated with cannot win in 2024.

Image
 As it stands, Donald Trump is likely to win the Republican nomination for President in 2024. Even Governor Ron DeSantis (FL) likely cannot beat him. He cannot win the general. A bold statement, though if thought about seems perfectly logical. As a reminder, it was when the Republicans in the Senate caved in December of 2015 on an Omnibus Spending Bill (sound familiar?) That on this very blog, it was predicted that not only would Donald Trump win the GOP nomination (The Lib supported at the time, Senator Rand Paul, then Ted Cruz, Gary Johnson (L), before supporting Trump), but that he would win the General Election. Sam Brownback served as an Ambassador in the Trump Administration, after being on the outs in Topeka as Governor. He had successfully been elected to the 2nd District in the House, moved to the Senate when Dole resigned to run for President, then ran as governor. He proposed significant tax cuts, which the state house went along with, but school districts were not prepa...
Read more