Washington – Colorado’s Ken Salazar and other members of the U.S. Senate’s “Gang of 14,” who united to preserve the right to filibuster judicial nominees, will meet Thursday to prepare for a possible battle over Supreme Court pick Samuel Alito.
“If it is the kind of difficult, contentious proceeding that could basically blow up the Senate, there is a role for the Gang of 14 to try to work through the issue,” Salazar said Tuesday.
Salazar is one of seven Democrats in the Gang of 14, which includes seven Republicans.
If there is an attempt to filibuster Alito, the Gang of 14 will decide whether the reasons for blocking a vote on confirmation meet the standard of “extraordinary circumstances.”
Those terms were part of the agreement reached by the group earlier this year when it united to prevent Republican leaders from eliminating the filibuster entirely. In exchange, Democrats agreed to allow an up-or- down vote on certain judicial nominees.
However, two Republicans in the Gang of 14 already have backed Alito. John McCain of Arizona said Monday that he was “pleased” with the nomination. And on Tuesday, Mike DeWine of Ohio told The Associated Press that Alito should not be filibustered. He threatened to side with Republicans to eliminate the filibuster if Democrats try to use it to block Alito’s confirmation.
Republicans have 55 of the 100 seats in the Senate. It takes 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, so Republicans would need at least five Democrats to side with them to hurdle the parliamentary tactic.
Salazar said no one in the Senate should judge Alito prior to confirmation hearings that will be held by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearings have yet to be scheduled.
“There is so much information that has to be reviewed concerning Judge Alito that for anybody to draw any conclusions with regard to whether he is the right person to confirm or not is much too premature,” the Colorado senator said.
