Going Nuclear
After a season-long stint on the Disabled List, it appears very likely that Chief Justice Rehnquist will be stepping down soon unless Massachusetts and California make serious progress in stem cell research. In other words Democrats and Republicans are already seeking an edge in the battle over Supreme Court nominees. Unlike the Pope, the Supreme Court justices are not voted on by secret conclave. The hearings are public, or pubic as was the case for Clarence Thomas.
As a pre-season warm up Republican Senators have taken umbrage with the Democrats' use of the filibuster to block President Bush's nominees to the Federal Judiciary. A filibuster is traditionally a long-winded speech given with the sole intention of getting absolutely nothing accomplished. Sixty other Senators can decide they don't want to listen to the "filiblusterer" and effectively end the speech in order to vote. All told only ten out of more than two hundred nominees were blocked by use of the filibuster. For those not adept at math that means the Democrats have waged war on people of faith. The people of faith, meanwhile, sit humbly waiting for the Lord to choose them for good works such as weakening environmental regulations and forcing rape victims to carry pregnancies to term.
Naturally, the Republicans want to clear up all the thorny issues surrounding the filibuster quicker than you can say, "Chief Justice Scalia." The Republicans, behind Senate Majority Leader Dr. "Don't Call Me Senator" Bill Frist (R-TN), have been exploring the use of the "nuclear option." The "nuclear option" would essentially end the filibuster of judicial nominees and allow the Republicans pick and choose justices with no debate.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to defend an institution whose most famous usage was a twenty-four hour, eighteen minute speech by Strom Thurmond in order to maintain the glorious tradition that is racial segregation. The second most famous filibuster is a speech by Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." I've never seen the film, but I'll stand by my assessment that it is Capra-esque since it was indeed directed by Frank Capra.
The moral right has been waging war on the Judiciary ever since "Roe v. Wade" made it possible for women to choose whether or not to keep a parasite. Just recently "activist judges," as they are known in the current nomenclature, ruled that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was a family matter and that homosexuals might have the right to define their own relationship and contribute to the economic prospects of divorce attorneys. Activist judges apparently do not carry hand made signs to the bench calling on the government to "Make Peace Not War."
Until recently, did you think the filibuster was that part of a lightbulb that makes it glow? |
As a pre-season warm up Republican Senators have taken umbrage with the Democrats' use of the filibuster to block President Bush's nominees to the Federal Judiciary. A filibuster is traditionally a long-winded speech given with the sole intention of getting absolutely nothing accomplished. Sixty other Senators can decide they don't want to listen to the "filiblusterer" and effectively end the speech in order to vote. All told only ten out of more than two hundred nominees were blocked by use of the filibuster. For those not adept at math that means the Democrats have waged war on people of faith. The people of faith, meanwhile, sit humbly waiting for the Lord to choose them for good works such as weakening environmental regulations and forcing rape victims to carry pregnancies to term.
Naturally, the Republicans want to clear up all the thorny issues surrounding the filibuster quicker than you can say, "Chief Justice Scalia." The Republicans, behind Senate Majority Leader Dr. "Don't Call Me Senator" Bill Frist (R-TN), have been exploring the use of the "nuclear option." The "nuclear option" would essentially end the filibuster of judicial nominees and allow the Republicans pick and choose justices with no debate.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to defend an institution whose most famous usage was a twenty-four hour, eighteen minute speech by Strom Thurmond in order to maintain the glorious tradition that is racial segregation. The second most famous filibuster is a speech by Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." I've never seen the film, but I'll stand by my assessment that it is Capra-esque since it was indeed directed by Frank Capra.
The moral right has been waging war on the Judiciary ever since "Roe v. Wade" made it possible for women to choose whether or not to keep a parasite. Just recently "activist judges," as they are known in the current nomenclature, ruled that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was a family matter and that homosexuals might have the right to define their own relationship and contribute to the economic prospects of divorce attorneys. Activist judges apparently do not carry hand made signs to the bench calling on the government to "Make Peace Not War."
Until recently, did you think the filibuster was that part of a lightbulb that makes it glow? |
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