WASHINGTON (9/29/04) - - During 2003-04, the Democratic minority in the Senate, led by Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, have prevented up-and-down votes on ten of President Bush's nominees to federal courts of appeals. These are very important courts, just one level down from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Republicans hold the Senate majority, 51-49. Moreover, under the Constitution, only a majority vote is required for the Senate to confirm a presidential nominee. However, under Senate rules, unlimited debate (or filibuster) is permitted on most issues, unless the Senate votes to "invoke cloture," which requires 60 votes. Senate Democrats have used the filibuster because the targeted nominees would have been confirmed by simple majorities on up-and-down votes.
The nominees subjected to filibusters and other obstruction tactics, despite their sterling legal credentials, are those targeted by a coalition of liberal groups. Pro-abortion organizations such as NARAL, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and People for the American Way are especially influential in this coalition. Therefore, many nominees who would not commit to vote for abortion were targeted for such obstruction. All 51 Republican senators supported ending every filibuster of a judicial nominee, but no more than four Democratic senators have voted to end any of the 10 filibusters. There-fore, none of the filibusters have yet been broken.
Forty-three of the 49 Democratic senators failed to support ending the filibuster against even one of the 10 filibustered nominees. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (D) was part of the bloc that did not support ending a single filibuster.
Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), who has endorsed President Bush for re-election, voted to end every filibuster (except for one occasion when he was absent). Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Ne.) voted to end eight of the ten filibusters, missed one vote, and voted to continue one filibuster.
Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) voted to end three of the filibusters. Bill Nelson (D-Fl.), Joseph Biden (D-De.), and Jim Jeffords (Vt.), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, each voted to end one filibuster.
The ten nominees who have been denied up-and-down confirmation votes by these filibusters are attorney Miguel Estrada, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; Priscilla Owen and Charles Pickering, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; Henry Saad, Richard Griffin, and David McKeague, Sixth Circuit; Janice Rogers Brown, Carolyn Kuhl, and William Myers, Ninth Circuit; and Bill Pryor, Eleventh Circuit.
Estrada, the first Hispanic nominated for a seat on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, withdrew his name from further consideration after being denied an up-and-down vote for nearly two years and after seven unsuccessful cloture votes.
Several other nominations have not been brought to the floor due to obstruction in committee or threatened filibusters, including that of Claude Allen of Virginia, a senior Administration official whom President Bush nominated to the Fourth Circuit.
Over vocal protests from Senate Democrats, early this year President Bush made "recess appointments" of Pickering and Pryor to the Fifth and Eleventh circuits, respectively. This means that they will sit as judges until the beginning of the next Congress in January, after which they or others must be nominated for confirmation to those seats.