March 8, 2000

That's the date of the Republican filibuster(pdf) to block the nomination of Richard A. Paez to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Republican leadership appears to have collective amnesia, since they keep saying that the threatened Democratic filibuster is "unprecedented" and "unconstitutional."

Most of the media stories I've encountered that bother to challenge that Republican assertion focus on the filibuster of Abe Fortas, but frankly, that's ancient history. We don't need to even look that far back.

Perhaps the Republicans don't count the Paez filibuster because it didn't last. A cloture vote was taken, and passed, ending the filibuster quickly. One imagines that, if the Republicans weren't such cry-babies, or the Bush nominees so extreme, that if the Democrats filibustered, the Republicans could win a cloture vote, so we wouldn't need all of this "nuclear option" nonsense.

You'd think Senator Frist would know how that works, since he voted against cloture on the Paez nomination. Which makes Frist's speech to the Federalist Society a strong candidate for the Pot Calling The Kettle Black award.

It would be easy to attribute the Minority’s actions to mere partisanship. But there is much more at work.

The Minority seeks nothing less than to realign the relationship between our three branches of government.

The Minority has not been satisfied with simply voting against the nominees – which is their right. They want to require a supermajority of 60 votes for confirmation.

This would establish a new threshold that would defy the clear intent of the Framers.

After much debate and compromise, the Framers concluded that the President should have the power to appoint. And the Senate should confirm or reject appointments by a simple majority vote.

This is “advice and consent.” And it’s an essential check in the appointment process.

But the Minority’s filibuster prevents the Senate from giving “advice and consent.” They deny the Senate the right to carry out its Constitutional duty.

This diminishes the role of the Senate as envisioned by the Framers. It silences the American people and the voices of their elected representatives.

And that is wrong.

This filibuster is nothing less than a formula for tyranny by the minority.

The President would have to make appointments that not just win a majority vote, but also pass the litmus tests of an obstructionist minority.

(Soon, I'll start just commenting when the Republicans say something that isn't the height of hypocrisy; it'll save a lot of work.)

If President Bush would simply nominate more judges who weren't awful, they'd get confirmed. Like Judge Paul Crotty, confirmed just two weeks ago, and the other 204 who have been confirmed already.