Reply #12: John Dean has good Findlaw article on GOP use of filibuster [View All]

[Gothmog]

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050408.html The reality is that there is plenty of filibuster precedent - and indeed, Frist himself participated in a Democratic nominee's filibuster.

In fact, the Republicans' tactics have become worse than the usual Washington balderdash, claptrap, hokum, drivel, and humbug. Rather, they are a prime example of the subject addressed by the renowned moral philosopher and emeritus Princeton philosophy professor, Harry G. Frankfurt, in his new book On Bullshit (which is climbing the New York Times bestseller list). As the professor states, "The … realm of politics replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept." That is precisely the case here.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service study found that from 1949 to 2002 thirty-five presidential nominations had been filibustered, including seventeen judicial nominations.

One that ought to have immediately come to mind for Gray was the 1968 filibuster of President Lyndon Johnson's nomination of Abe Fortas to the chief justice position - orchestrated by presidential candidate Richard Nixon. (Nixon worked with Republican Senators, who in turn enlisted Southern conservatives -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- to join them.)

But Gray claimed the Fortas filibuster never occurred because Fortas withdrew his name. In fact, as the website of the U.S. Senate clearly states, the Fortas nomination was filibustered: "Although the committee recommended confirmation, floor consideration sparked the first filibuster in Senate history on a Supreme Court nomination. On October 1, 1968, the Senate failed to invoke cloture ." Fortas withdrew his name only when it became clear the White House could not defeat the filibuster.

Finally, according to the well-publicized finding by law professor Herman Schwartz, in March 2000, Majority Leader Frist himself participated in the filibuster against Clinton judicial nominee Richard Paez. (In the end, Judge Paez was confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after a cloture vote.)