The Very Latest on the Filibuster Front

Word around the blogosphere this afternoon is that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid told Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today that Democrats are ready at any time for the so-called "nuclear option" vote.

That vote, of course, would be to eliminate the 200-year-old Senate tradition of the filibuster for judicial and other appointments. Until 1948, judicial nominees required a 100% Senate vote. In order to confirm a handful of wholly unsuited, ultra-radical nominees, the Frist-led Republicans want that changed to a simple majority, for the first time in American history. Republicans hold 56 of 100 Senate seats in the 109th Congress.

Bloggers don't know if Reid is playing a gutsy game of political chicken, or if Democrats have the votes to hold back this Republican-desired democratic disaster for the US.
-------------------------
Yours truly has been invited by the Democratic National Committee to particpate this Thursday in a telephonic briefing with Senator Ted Kennedy on the subject of the filibuster, probably to discuss this....

"Civil Rights leaders Julian Bond (Chairman, NAACP), Judy Lichtman (President, National Partnership for Women and Families) and Wade Henderson (Executive Director, LCCR) joined Senators Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton to stand up for checks and balances, and denounce Republicans for abusing power by attempting to put nominees on the courts that will roll back fundamental rights.

'Civil Rights is still the unfinished business of America,' said Senator Ted Kennedy. 'Since I joined the United States Senate, I’ve fought to ensure that America honors its promise of equal justice for all. I supported passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Title IX, and the ADA, all of which have helped make America a stronger, fairer land. But these laws can’t protect civil rights without fair judges to enforce them. That's why we must prevent the confirmation of judges like Janice Rogers Brown and Terrence Boyle, who would roll back basic rights and erase much of this country’s hard-fought progress toward equality and opportunity.' "

I'll report back to you with the very latest on the filibuster after Thursday's Democratic blogger briefing.
-------------------------
Raw Story is reporting that today, Senate Democrats distributed a comprehensive pro-filibuster vote tally for every one of the 56 Republican Senators now in Congress.

Seems that 32 of those Republican Senators, including Bill Frist, have collectively cast several hundred votes to filibuster or block judicial and executive nominees, mainly during the Clinton administration. Raw Story has the exact tally on a senator-by-senator and vote-by-vote basis.

The hypocrisy of this "nuclear option" power-play is frightening. It shows that they will destroy any essential feature of US democracy, including judicial checks & balances, to "have it their way," as Burger King says.

I wonder...does today's Raw Story disclosure have anything to do with Senator Reid's call today for a vote??? Would be fascinating to know if the two are related.
-------------------------
Join me and the lively crowd in the Forum discussing the filibuster!