Senate Vote on Liu this week -- leading GOP senators have already said a filibuster would be wrong

The Senate will finally vote this week on the nomination of Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of a Appeals.  But first, the Senate has to vote on whether to end debate on the nomination -- which has been going on for two years -- and have a vote.   A few right wing bloggers at National Review Online and elsewhere have suggested a filibuster, but it is inconceivable that this could happen unless Republican senators ignore what they have been saying about filibusters for a long time. 

And the position of the Republican delegation on filibusters is clear:

Senator John Cornyn of Texas wrote in a 2004 law review article: "Wasteful and unnecessary delay in the process of selecting judges hurts our justice system and harms all Americans. It is intolerable no matter who occupies the White House and no matter which party is the majority party in the Senate... Filibusters are by far the most virulent form of delay imaginable."

Senator Lamar Alexander said in the Congressional Chronicle in 2005: "I pledged, then and there, I would never filibuster any President's judicial nominee, period. I might vote against them, but I will always see they came to a vote."

And Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia said in 2005: "I will vote to support a vote, up or down, on every nominee. Understanding that, were I in the minority party and the issues reversed, I would take
exactly the same position because this document, our Constitution, does not equivocate."

And Senator Orrin Hatch in a Senate floor statement in 2007: "We may not use our role of advise and consent to undermine the President's authority to appoint judges... It is wrong to use the filibuster to defeat judicial nominees who have majority support, who would be confirmed if only we could vote up or down. That is why I have never voted against cloture on a judicial nomination."

And Senator Lisa Murkowski, speaking before the Juneau Bar Association last year, criticized the legislative branch for holding the "judiciary hostage" and said Senators should vote against nominees they don't like instead of holding up the process.

So the decision about Liu this week for the Republican delegation is simple.  Will the Republican Senators listen to a handful of bloggers at National Review Online who are not accountable for their actions except to the donors who fund them?  Or will the Republican Senators listen to themsleves?

 

Comments

[Remote labs]

Politics. I am sorry to say but I have to stand that this is the dirtiest job you can ever have. But somehow, I am happy to stand that there is someone as brave as I am to see to it that every citizen has the right to speak up its mind.

[Dan Abrams]

Well, the filibuster worked. Democrats can cry hypocrisy until the next Republican President. No doubt there will be another Bork and everyone can switch sides.