Senator Kennedy: Inside Info on the Filibuster

I just got off the phone from a Democratic blogger briefing by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), with remarks by DNC Chair Howard Dean. No compromise between Senate Democrats and Republicans has been reached, and none was mentioned.

As it stands now, a vote will be called the middle of next week by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to deploy the "nuclear option," meaning that Senate Republicans will call to repeal the 224-year old Senate filibuster tradition established by our forefathers to ensure adequate checks & balances in judicial and all federal appointments.

As of today, Senator Kennedy said that Democrats have "49 hard votes" plus "7 soft Republican votes." Democrats need only 2 of those 7 soft votes to defeat this unprecedented power-drive away from democracy.

Senator Kennedy briefly described 4 Bush judicial nominees that are causing the most friction....

Judge William Pryor, who was the "architect of the torture policy of this administration. " Pryor has strong conservative views against the Americans with Disabiities Act, discrimination legislation and expansion of voting rights;

Judge William Myers, an extreme pro-business advocate who was a longtime lobbyist for the mining and cattle industries;

Judge Janice Rogers Browns, an ultra-conservative who is hostile to and wants cutbacks in FDR-era progams such as Social Security and Medicaid, as well as basic workers' rights such the minimum wage; and

Judge Priscilla Owens, a Texas judge who is extremely pro-business and anti-consumer. She's been reprimanded 11 times for inappropriate judicial conduct.

Radically changing the historical rules of the Senate will upset the intricate US systems of checks and balances that ensure democracy. Said Senator Kennedy, It will bring about a "reverse-revolution," that will take us back "229 years" to time when we were ruled by a "king with absolute power."