Post subject: Frist tells churchgoers filibuster has to go
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:22 am
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:53 am Posts: 4470 Location: Knoxville, TN Gender: Male
Frist tells churchgoers filibuster has to go
Tennessean News Services
Frist wants to strip Democrats of their power to stall President Bush's picks for federal courts, saying the Constitution demands a vote on nominees to the federal bench
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist defended stripping Democrats of the power to block President Bush's judicial picks, telling a church telecast last night that the constitution demands an up-or-down vote on nominees to the federal bench.
But the Tennessean, a possible candidate for president in 2008, appeared intent on distancing himself from the harsher anti-judiciary rhetoric of fellow Republicans, insisting that judges deserve ''respect, not retaliation'' for their rulings.
Frist's remarks were delivered via a videotape rather than in person to an audience estimated at 1,700 at a rally dubbed ''Justice Sunday'' at the 6,000-member Highview Baptist Church on the eastern outskirts of Kentucky's largest city.
The event, sponsored by the Family Research Council, a Washington-based group active in efforts to ban abortions and gay marriage, was simulcast to 130 other churches, 500 radio stations and the Internet.
Frist said it was not ''radical'' to ask senators to vote on judicial nominees as he hardened his effort to strip Democrats of their power to stall President Bush's picks for the federal court. Frist, who had faced nearly a week of accusations that he was engaging in ''religious McCarthyism'' by participating in the event, avoided any overt mention of religion as he made the case for changing Senate rules to prohibit filibusters of Bush's judicial nominees.
He seemed intent on steering clear of the views expressed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other conservatives in and out of Congress who have urged investigations and even possible im-peachment of judges they consider activists.
''Our judiciary must be independent, impartial and fair,'' said Frist. ''When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values, we will say so. But we must also be clear that the balance of power among all three branches requires respect, not retaliation. I won't go along with that.''
For months, Frist has threatened to take action that would shut down the Democrats' practice of subjecting a small number of judicial appointees to filibusters. Barring a last-minute compromise, a showdown is expected this spring or summer.
''Either confirm the nominees or reject them,'' Frist said. ''Don't leave them hanging.''
While a majority of the 100-member Senate is sufficient to confirm a judge, it takes 60 votes under Senate rules to overcome a filibuster and force a final vote.
Rather than change the rules directly, Frist and other Republicans have threatened to seek an internal Senate ruling that would declare that filibusters are not permitted against judicial nominees.
Because such a ruling can be enforced by majority vote, and Republicans have 55 seats in the Senate, GOP leaders have said they expect to prevail if they put the issue to the test.
Throughout the broadcast, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins directed attention to the names and Capitol telephone numbers of senators whose vote in favor of ending judicial filibusters is questionable. He urged viewers to call those senators ''before you have your first cup of coffee'' this morning.
Democrats blocked 10 appointments in Bush's first term. The president has renominated seven of the 10 since he won re-election, and Democrats have threatened to filibuster them again.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., raised the possibility of a deal. ''I think we should compromise and say to them that ... we'll let a number'' of the seven judges ''go through, the two most extreme not go through and put off this vote and compromise,'' he said on ABC's This Week.
Republicans held a Senate majority for six of President Clinton's eight years in office and frequently prevented votes on his court appointments by bottling them up in committee.
Yesterday, Frist mostly avoided lengthy remarks about abortion, the issue that, according to one of the key speakers at the event, underlies the effort to get Bush's judicial nominees confirmed.
Among the speakers yesterday was Charles Pickering of Mississippi, one of the judges blocked from a permanent promotion to an appeals court. He called the filibuster tactic unconstitutional and said it should be ended permanently if used again.
At a news conference before the evening event, Pickering said the 1973 Supreme Court ruling granting abortion rights ''was something the people's representatives did not participate in'' the way they would have had it been a proposed constitutional amendment.
''Now that has caused an awful lot of reaction ... (and) as long as there are judges that are doing the changing or the amending of the constitution, this issue is going to be controversial,'' Pickering said.
Pickering's bruising battle for a seat on a federal appeals court ended when Bush, in a temporary recess appointment that did not require Senate approval, elevated him last year to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Democrats threatened a filibuster of Pickering's nomination, accusing him of supporting segregation as a young man, and promoting anti-abortion and anti-voting rights as a state lawmaker — allegations Pickering denied.
Pickering announced his retirement in December, saying he would not seek nomination for a permanent seat that would have required Senate approval.
Frist noted that some Republicans are opposed to ending judicial filibusters, fearing that the GOP may someday want to use the same tactics against appointments made by a Democratic president.
''That may be true. But if what Democrats are doing is wrong today, it won't be right for Republicans to do the same thing tomorrow,'' he said.
Critics of ''Justice Sunday'' said holding the event in a church was inappropriate. Several hundred people gathered at a Presbyterian church where religious leaders condemned Frist and others for using the pulpit to spread a political message.
At one of several rallies in the city yesterday afternoon, about 100 protesters sat on the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse as public officials voiced their dissent.
Frist's filibuster
In 2000, Sen. Bill Frist participated in a filibuster to try to prevent a vote on Judge Richard Paez, nominated by President Clinton to a spot on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to CBS News. The effort failed, and Paez was confirmed.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Cartman wrote:
This marks the end of my participation in the News & Debate forum.
Aw, I love ya', Cartman. I wouldn't have been so cruel if it wasn't my pet issue of the moment.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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Frist wants to strip Democrats of their power to stall President Bush's picks for federal courts, saying the Constitution demands a vote on nominees to the federal bench
