The U.S. Senate on Friday edged closer to the brink of a historic confrontation over President Bush’s judicial nominees while a bipartisan group of moderate lawmakers continued working behind the scenes on a compromise.
We continue to hope cooler heads will prevail and that a deal can be reached that not only averts what opponents see as a Republican abuse of power, but also prevents the Democrats from filibustering a bloc of Bush nominees from getting a fair hearing and vote before the Senate.
Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., is among the 12 lawmakers seeking a compromise – trying, for good reason, to keep his campaign vow to give judicial nominees an up-or-down vote. Earlier this week, he floated a compromise offering votes on all seven of Bush’s controversial nominees in exchange for a guarantee that the Senate maintain the right to filibuster.
Republicans have the majority in the Senate and can change the rules if they so choose. Even if the Senate parliamentarian says it’s wrong, the Republicans can do it. That’s why GOP leaders are talking tough. For now, Democrats seem to have public opinion on their side, however, they won’t want to be seen as obstructionists when the individual judges come up for a vote.
After three days of debate over one of Bush’s most controversial nominees, Judge Priscilla R. Owen of Texas, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, filed a cloture motion to end the debate and put the nomination to a vote. The vote on cloture is set for Tuesday and could lead to what is being called the “nuclear option.”
The motion means that, unless a dozen Republican and Democratic senators reach a deal to avoid the confrontation before Tuesday, Majority Leader Bill Frist will seek to eliminate the requirement that a supermajority of 60 be mustered to end a filibuster.
Democrats could slow down Senate business if Frist succeeds in ending the use of the judicial filibuster, a long-standing parliamentary technique designed to protect the minority voice by allowing unlimited debate.
Salazar’s plan is not the leading vehicle for compromise. Under a bipartisan plan, advanced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., five of the president’s seven disputed nominees, including Owen, would get a vote on the Senate floor. Democrats would promise to limit filibusters to “extraordinary circumstances” through 2006.
That seems like a reasonable compromise, since more than 200 of Bush’s judicial nominees – 95 percent – already have been confirmed over the past four years.
