Fight for the Filibuster

A vote to end debate on the nomination of extreme conservative Priscilla Owen to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled for Tuesday, May 24--the first strike in the so-called "nuclear option" to eliminate the use of the filibuster in judicial nominations. Now is the time to tell your senators that you oppose eliminating the filibuster. Click here to do so today.

Filibuster opponents have pulled out all the rhetorical stops in their quest to consolidate more power for the executive branch, advancing numerous falsehoods and distortions in the process, as the excellent website Media Matters for America has documented. So click here if you're not convinced that the elimination of the filibuster would be catastrophic or if you just need some good talking points.

Comments (3)

1. There's been a lot of creative activism in defense of the filibuster--see what the Princeton students have been up to in front of their Frist Student Center. Please use the comments field to let me know about anything that you think should be highlighted.

   Posted by Peter Rothberg at 05/23/2005 @ 11:45am

2. I am for or against filibusters? Hmmm...here's what I'll say:

   If Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) presses the button on judicial filibusters, what Democrats dub "the nuclear option," it may indeed be "the end of the Senate as we know it," as Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) puts it. So why stop there?

   As long as a rule fundamental to the institution's moderating role, holding parity--held perfectly among the states--in some measure for opposition parties, is under review, and we approach the brink of "a dark, protracted era of partisan politics" as Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) warns, at this point, why not reconsider the 215-year old Senate itself? This awkward senior moment, the Senate's seemingly newfound inability to keep its balance, to find its center, may be a sign that the Great Compromise, which today gives almost 6 million Tennesseans the same say as more than 19 million New Yorkers (not to mention more than 35 million Californians), is antiquated.

   If the majority leader now has no time for a minority opposition that can hold up a lifetime appointment in extreme cases, and intends to make the deliberative Senate a House of Representatives that does fast business, this new smaller house of Congress should at least be more representative of the population if it is to confirm judicial nominees, such as Justices Brown and Owen, that are obviously not.

   Posted by theninthwave at 05/23/2005 @ 7:20pm

3. Too late. The democrats capitulated, as usual. A weak "compromise" has been reached that effectively employs the "nuclear option" without the need for Republicans to get dirty. In fact, the Republicans now come off looking like the heroes. The democrats are both feckless and weak, reminiscent of a dog that has been beat too many times for trying to please its master. Unfortunately, this dog has shown that it will never bite back.

   Posted by jctull at 05/23/2005 @ 10:24pm