phuloi
05-04-2003, 08:41 PM
This CONSERVATIVE ALERT prepared for William Melvin:
ISSUE: According to John Nowacki, the Director of Legal Policy
at the Free Congress Foundation (www.freecongress.org),
liberal Senate hard-liners have started ANOTHER filibuster
of a conservative judicial nominee, "continuing to trash two
centuries of precedent."
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-NV) has announced that
the Democrats are now filibustering the nomination of Texas
Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. It's the Democrats' second
filibuster -- they've been blocking a vote on Miguel Estrada's
D.C. Circuit nomination since February. And it's another
groundbreaking moment for the Democrats, who have already
mounted the first filibuster of a circuit court nominee in
the history of our Republic and are now simultaneously
launching the second.
If you can believe Sen. Reid, that's the most reasonable
thing in the world. In fact, Reid argued that Bush ought to
be happy that only two of his nominees are being denied a
vote.
Let's get this straight. The exceptionally well-qualified
Miguel Estrada has bi-partisan support from more than enough
Senators for confirmation, but he is denied a vote because
the radical liberals in the Democrat caucus know they don't
have a case against him, and would lose. But that's only
fair, right?
Then the exceptionally well-qualified Priscilla Owen, who
also has bi-partisan support from more than enough Senators
for confirmation, is also denied a vote because, yet again,
the hard-liners in the Democrat caucus don't have a case
against her. Hey, what's the big deal?
The "big deal", as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has
repeated pointed out, is that this is nothing less than an
attempt to rewrite the Constitution and toss out two centuries
of precedent. Wherever the Constitution requires a
"supermajority," it SAYS so. Confirmations only need a SIMPLE
majority, and it's been that way since the administration of
George Washington. But *filibusters* need 60 votes to be
broken, and the leaders of the Democrats have basically said
that no one will be confirmed by a simple majority vote
unless they decide it's okay, despite the fact that THEY are
in the MINORITY.
This is why the Democrats LOST control of the Senate in the
first place -- the American people were sick and tired of
their obstructionism in Congress, especially their blocking
of dozens of President Bush's judicial nominees. (5 of his 11
original nominees, sent up nearly 2 years ago, STILL have not
had been confirmed.) So now, the Democrat leadership is
fighting to keep the people's elected representatives from
doing the will of those who voted them into office!
A few weeks ago, columnist Robert Novak reported that some
Republicans are tiring of the confirmation battles and that
Democrat leaders like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) had counted on
this all along. If those Republicans decide to fold, this is
what they can look forward to for the remainder of Bush's
presidency, regardless of whether that lasts one term or two.
And these are just the battles over circuit court of appeals
seats. Just imagine how the Democrats will handle a nominee
to the Supreme Court.
Well, Sen. Reid has told the Republicans what to do. The
question is whether they're going to sit down and take it.
ACTION ITEM: As one of our members recently wrote us, as long
as the Democrats are allowed to do any thing at all in the
Senate besides vote on Mr. Estrada's (and now Judge Owens')
nomination, they have absolutely nothing to lose and everything
to gain by continuing this filibuster. They're having a field
day at the expense of the Republicans, and the GOP Senators
aren't helping anything by allowing the radical liberals to
do as they please. Until the Republicans stop the Democrats in
their tracks and holds their feet to the fire, the liberal
obstructionists win, and win big.
The GOP HAS to force the Democrats back into conducting a REAL
filibuster. Senators who filibuster judicial nominations should
be required to go to the floor of the Senate and actually speak
WITHOUT BEING ALLOWED TO STOP. Senators should be required to deal
with one subject only, namely the item being filibustered. The
Democrats MUST lose this filibuster or the Republicans have HAD
it -- voters will turn them out at the next election, which is
just what the Democrat leadership is counting on with this strategy.
We MUST get this idea through to the Republican leadership!
And ConservativeAlerts.com has set up just the way for you to do
that.
Now you can send "Blast Faxes" to ALL 51 GOP SENATORS -- every
single one of them -- telling them to support returning to the
REAL filibuster and "force the hand" of the liberal Democrats.
The cost is only $19 -- about what it would cost you in time & long
distance fees to do it yourself. Go to our site below to send your
51 faxes NOW:
http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/
AOL GO HERE (http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/)
NOTE: If all of the Republican Senators find their offices buried
under a sea of faxes in the next week, demanding that they force
the Democrats to engage in a REAL filibuster, then we could
finally see an end to the "judicial armageddon" imposed by the
Daschle Democrats for the last two years. WE CAN FINALLY WIN THIS!
Send your "Blast Faxes" to EVERY SINGLE GOP SENATOR *TODAY* --
and be sure to forward this e-mail to everyone you know that
wants to help make sure President Bush's judicial nominees receive
the fair hearing they deserve.
And as always, you can contact your Senators for FREE at ConservativeAlerts.com (http://www.conservativealerts.com/050203.htm).
Thank you!
ISSUE: According to John Nowacki, the Director of Legal Policy
at the Free Congress Foundation (www.freecongress.org),
liberal Senate hard-liners have started ANOTHER filibuster
of a conservative judicial nominee, "continuing to trash two
centuries of precedent."
Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-NV) has announced that
the Democrats are now filibustering the nomination of Texas
Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. It's the Democrats' second
filibuster -- they've been blocking a vote on Miguel Estrada's
D.C. Circuit nomination since February. And it's another
groundbreaking moment for the Democrats, who have already
mounted the first filibuster of a circuit court nominee in
the history of our Republic and are now simultaneously
launching the second.
If you can believe Sen. Reid, that's the most reasonable
thing in the world. In fact, Reid argued that Bush ought to
be happy that only two of his nominees are being denied a
vote.
Let's get this straight. The exceptionally well-qualified
Miguel Estrada has bi-partisan support from more than enough
Senators for confirmation, but he is denied a vote because
the radical liberals in the Democrat caucus know they don't
have a case against him, and would lose. But that's only
fair, right?
Then the exceptionally well-qualified Priscilla Owen, who
also has bi-partisan support from more than enough Senators
for confirmation, is also denied a vote because, yet again,
the hard-liners in the Democrat caucus don't have a case
against her. Hey, what's the big deal?
The "big deal", as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has
repeated pointed out, is that this is nothing less than an
attempt to rewrite the Constitution and toss out two centuries
of precedent. Wherever the Constitution requires a
"supermajority," it SAYS so. Confirmations only need a SIMPLE
majority, and it's been that way since the administration of
George Washington. But *filibusters* need 60 votes to be
broken, and the leaders of the Democrats have basically said
that no one will be confirmed by a simple majority vote
unless they decide it's okay, despite the fact that THEY are
in the MINORITY.
This is why the Democrats LOST control of the Senate in the
first place -- the American people were sick and tired of
their obstructionism in Congress, especially their blocking
of dozens of President Bush's judicial nominees. (5 of his 11
original nominees, sent up nearly 2 years ago, STILL have not
had been confirmed.) So now, the Democrat leadership is
fighting to keep the people's elected representatives from
doing the will of those who voted them into office!
A few weeks ago, columnist Robert Novak reported that some
Republicans are tiring of the confirmation battles and that
Democrat leaders like Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) had counted on
this all along. If those Republicans decide to fold, this is
what they can look forward to for the remainder of Bush's
presidency, regardless of whether that lasts one term or two.
And these are just the battles over circuit court of appeals
seats. Just imagine how the Democrats will handle a nominee
to the Supreme Court.
Well, Sen. Reid has told the Republicans what to do. The
question is whether they're going to sit down and take it.
ACTION ITEM: As one of our members recently wrote us, as long
as the Democrats are allowed to do any thing at all in the
Senate besides vote on Mr. Estrada's (and now Judge Owens')
nomination, they have absolutely nothing to lose and everything
to gain by continuing this filibuster. They're having a field
day at the expense of the Republicans, and the GOP Senators
aren't helping anything by allowing the radical liberals to
do as they please. Until the Republicans stop the Democrats in
their tracks and holds their feet to the fire, the liberal
obstructionists win, and win big.
The GOP HAS to force the Democrats back into conducting a REAL
filibuster. Senators who filibuster judicial nominations should
be required to go to the floor of the Senate and actually speak
WITHOUT BEING ALLOWED TO STOP. Senators should be required to deal
with one subject only, namely the item being filibustered. The
Democrats MUST lose this filibuster or the Republicans have HAD
it -- voters will turn them out at the next election, which is
just what the Democrat leadership is counting on with this strategy.
We MUST get this idea through to the Republican leadership!
And ConservativeAlerts.com has set up just the way for you to do
that.
Now you can send "Blast Faxes" to ALL 51 GOP SENATORS -- every
single one of them -- telling them to support returning to the
REAL filibuster and "force the hand" of the liberal Democrats.
The cost is only $19 -- about what it would cost you in time & long
distance fees to do it yourself. Go to our site below to send your
51 faxes NOW:
http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/
AOL GO HERE (http://www.campaigncontribution.com/alerts/filibuster/)
NOTE: If all of the Republican Senators find their offices buried
under a sea of faxes in the next week, demanding that they force
the Democrats to engage in a REAL filibuster, then we could
finally see an end to the "judicial armageddon" imposed by the
Daschle Democrats for the last two years. WE CAN FINALLY WIN THIS!
Send your "Blast Faxes" to EVERY SINGLE GOP SENATOR *TODAY* --
and be sure to forward this e-mail to everyone you know that
wants to help make sure President Bush's judicial nominees receive
the fair hearing they deserve.
And as always, you can contact your Senators for FREE at ConservativeAlerts.com (http://www.conservativealerts.com/050203.htm).
Thank you!