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Wednesday, July 30, 2003
With six you get filibuster
Miguel Estrada has been shot down more times than this guy in a singles bar:
Senate Republicans lost a seventh filibuster vote Wednesday in their fight to make Miguel Estrada the first Hispanic on the federal appeals court in the nation's capital. Democrats appeared to be setting up more filibusters on President Bush's judicial nominees.
As Congress worked toward an August recess, Republicans pressured Democrats to confirm Bush's nominees.
"The American people deserve it," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "They understand that we are not fulfilling our responsibility in this body without an up-or-down vote. That is our job. That is our responsibility in advise-and-consent."
But the GOP fell five votes short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move Estrada's nomination to confirmation, and Democrats appeared to be setting up another filibuster for Henry Saad, an Arab-American judge from Michigan whom Bush has nominated to the federal appeals court. A Saad filibuster would be the sixth for federal appellate nominees this year.
Republicans, who also lost a filibuster vote Tuesday for Texas judge Priscilla Owen, will try Thursday and Friday to win confirmation for Alabama Attorney General William Pryor and California judge Carolyn Kuhl. But both nominees are expected to be filibustered, as is Mississippi judge Charles Pickering when he comes before the Senate again.
Meanwhile, National Reviews Byron York, who is the Bush Administration's cabana boy when it comes to judicial nominations repeats the Anti-Catholic talking point, but with many reservations:
The GOP campaign knocked Democrats back on their heels, and last week's debate in the Judiciary Committee turned into a bitter argument in which Democrats, almost beside themselves with anger at having their motives challenged, accused Republicans of injecting religion into the confirmation process. Questions of Pryor's alleged extremism and alleged improper fundraising took a back seat as frustrated Democrats defended themselves against Republican charges of anti-Catholic bias.
For Republicans, it was a brilliant turnaround. But it came at some cost. To turn the tables on Democrats, the GOP had to resort to the kind of interest-group-sensitivity attack they have condemned when Democrats used them against Bush nominees. For example, the GOP's accusations of Democratic anti-Catholicism are strikingly similar to oft-repeated Democratic charges that Republican nominees are "insensitive" to issues of civil rights.
The problem with such charges is that they are almost always phony. There is no more evidence that Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are anti-Catholic than there is evidence that Republican nominees are racists or judicial activists or religious zealots.
In addition, the Republican counterattack led to an extraordinary and uncomfortable scene in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room, in which members of the committee engaged in a semi-theological debate over what "good Catholics" do or do not believe. Democrats were aghast, but had little room to complain, since on many occasions in the past their own tactics created other extraordinary and uncomfortable scenes over other inappropriate allegations. Last week, they found themselves the target. One might say it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.
But some Republicans were uncomfortable as well, and were left wondering: Where would this new strategy lead? To win a momentary advantage on Pryor, Republicans had acted like Democrats at their worst. And no one was terribly happy about that.
Note one thing that stands out in Yorks comments:
Questions of Pryor's alleged extremism and alleged improper fundraising took a back seat as frustrated Democrats defended themselves against Republican charges of anti-Catholic bias.
Looks like Lil' Perjuring Pryor's Excellent Fundraising Adventure hasn't gone away yet.
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