Senate Republicans Slate 30-Hour 'Justice for Judges' Marathon
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
November 12, 2003 8:30AM EST

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Evening Editor
November 12, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - After months of failing to overcome filibusters by Democrats, GOP leaders in the Senate will attempt to secure up-or-down votes on several stalled judicial nominees during a continuous 30-hour debate from 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday through midnight Thursday.

The "Justice for Judges" marathon was organized by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, to support four court nominees put forth by the Bush administration: Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering Sr. of Mississippi and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown.

"We're trying to increase the visibility of this problem by slowly escalating our tactics,'' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee who will play a leading role in the debate, told Fox News Channel.

Under current rules, the 51 Republican senators set the chamber's agenda but need Democrats to pass legislation and nominees because it takes 60 votes to end debate. Without nine crossover Democrats, the debate never officially ends - the equivalent of a filibuster.

While acknowledging that it's unlikely the new strategy will overcome the Democrats' tactics, Santorum noted: "We're not doing this just for show. We're doing it to try to produce votes during that period of time, in the wee hours of the morning if necessary, to get votes on these nominees."

The Republicans have an unusual ally in this effort: a new website called www.justiceforjudges.com. The site was launched by Citizen Outreach, which describes itself as a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that promotes limited government in public policies.

"Although not a sexy issue, confirming conservative judges who will interpret the law and not legislate it from the bench is perhaps the single most important public policy issue facing this nation today, other than the war on terror," said Chuck Muth, the organization's president.

"This unprecedented and unconstitutional use of judicial filibusters by Senate Democrats, this obstructionist tyranny of the minority, must be exposed and defeated," Muth added.

The website includes background information on the history of cloture, an explanation of why a "marathon" and not a "real" 24/7 filibuster is being implemented, links to news stories about the debate and other organizations working on this issue, and a discussion board.

After initially dismissing the debate, during which the time will be evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said during a Tuesday press conference that he and his fellow Democrats are now "looking forward to it" and hope to do more than simply object to Bush's judicial picks.

Daschle called the Republican effort "troubling," noting that "while the debate goes on about four people whose jobs each provide more than $100,000 in income, the Republicans are consumed by those four jobs and ignore the 3 million jobs that we've lost over the course of the last three years under this administration's economic policies.

"If we get 15 hours to debate the joblessness in this country and call attention to the utter failure of this administration to address employment, then I believe that's a great victory, at least rhetorically," Daschle added.

"I only wish we would have spent the 30 hours doing something about it, like passing the manufacturing jobs credit or the overtime prohibition elimination or the minimum wage," Daschle concluded. "There are a lot of things that we could be doing to affect those jobs, rather than just talk about it."

Muth agreed that the Senate's time could be put to better use.

"Democrats are complaining about the 30-hour marathon being a waste of time when so many other issues need to be addressed," Muth said.

"So those same Democrats should stop whining, end their obstruction and give these nominees their due consideration," Muth noted. "Vote 'em up or vote 'em down. Just vote. That's what this marathon is all about."

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