Mainstream Conservatives Slap Down Jeff Sessions' Obstructionist Filibuster

Rushin' to get his makeup right, Sessions left his sheet & hood home

After spitefully holding his nomination up for nearly nine months, the dominant obstructionist wing of the Republican Senate caucus was dealt a severe setback today when even the most reactionary and cowardly Democrats who often join GOP crusades against sanity-- Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and Claire McCaskill to be precise-- stuck with their own party and 10 mainstream conservatives abandoned Jeff Sessions' harebrained filibuster of Judge David Hamilton. His nomination was confirmed 70-29. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (KKK-AL), still vengeful because of his own rejection for a judgeship in 1986 when it came out that his bigotry was rooted in his relationship to the Klan, has vowed to obstruct every Obama judicial nomination.

This time he lost conservative members of his own caucus who felt that his pointless and childish game-playing was making the Republican Party look bad to mainstream voters. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dick Lugar (R-IN), John Thune (R-SD), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) all voted to confirm judge Hamilton, as did Republican-leaning Independent Joe Lieberman. Once again, Session was left looking like the extremist idiot and loser that he is.

The American Bar Association rated Hamilton "well qualified." But even the hard right Federalist Society of Indiana endorsed him-- as did legitimate editorial boards across the country. And one of the Senate's worst racists and most blatant bigots condemned Sessions' ill-conceived strategy... Jeff Sessions in 2003:

Of the many reasons why we shouldn't have a filibuster, an important one is the Article I of the Constitution. It says the Senate shall advise and consent on treaties by a two-thirds vote, and simply "shall advise and consent" on nominations.

Historically, we have understood that provision to mean-- and I think there is no doubt the Founders understood that to mean-- that a treaty confirmation requires a two-thirds vote, but confirmation of a judicial nomination requires only a simple majority vote. That is why we have never had a filibuster. People on both sides of the aisle have understood it to be wrong. They have understood it to be in violation of the Constitution.

As Senator Hatch has said, the complaint suggesting there was a filibuster on the Fortas nomination is not really correct. They had debate for several days. Apparently, when the votes were counted, it was clear that considering those who were absent, there were enough votes to defeat the nomination, and the nomination was withdrawn.

So there has never really been a filibuster of a judicial nominee in the Senate until now, when our Democratic colleagues have decided to change the ground rules on confirmation. They have said so and done so openly, and seem to be little concerned that the Constitution may be violated in the process.

Mr. President, these nominees are entitled to an up-and-down vote. If a Member does not like them, he or she can vote against them. But it is time to move these nominees. How can they defend voting against nominees of the quality of Priscilla Owen or Miguel Estrada? How can they justify opposing a man of such integrity, ability, patriotism, and courage as Attorney General Bill Pryor, a man of faith and integrity? These are questions that should be answered on the floor. Let us discuss these nominees' records here. And then, let us just vote. That is what the Constitution and Senate tradition demand of us.

I think the American people are getting engaged, and they are telling us "we are tired of obstructionism," "we are tired of delays," and "we believe these nominees deserve an up-and-down vote." I could not agree more.

This bumbling imbecile and idiot is the best the Republicans can come up with to lead their members on the Senate Judiciary Committee:




UPDATE: Hamilton Confirmed

Only one Republican, Dick Lugar, joined every Democrat today in confirming David Hamilton to Seventh Court of Appeals.

The Little Girls Who Screech The Sky Is Falling... Everyday, All Day

Henny Penny prepares for battle, along with Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey & Turkey Lurkey

Imagine Dick Cheney shot up with lots of botox and wearing a blond wig. Or just watch the video from Fox yesterday morning:



I had already started writing this piece before I saw that clip. So the piece isn't really about the Republican determination to drag the country back into the "good old days" of Bush-Cheney. And the "little girls" in the title have nothing to do with the Cheney girls. It refers to the Republican Senate Caucus and whoever decides what the members are supposed to do. Saturday we looked at Tuesday's impending battle over the nomination of David Hamilton, a moderate Indiana judge recommended by Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, who has been blocked by the GOP since March. Last week Harry Reid filed a cloture motion and Tuesday, Senate Republicans have to decide how seriously they want to filibuster this one.

Yesterday, The Hill reported on a schism within the GOP over this, with hysterical extremists like Reagan's widely discredited porn and drug-obsessed Attorney General Ed Meese and neo-fascist publisher Alfred Regnery clamoring for more and unending obstructionism while other movement conservatives-- not to mention worried elected officials-- worrying that voters are getting sick and tired of overly partisan GOP jihads against all of President Obama's nominations and programs. It works for Liz Cheney, but normal Americans don't have the same point of view.

Twenty four leading conservatives have signed a memo urging Republican senators to filibuster Hamilton, setting the stage for the first protracted Senate fight over one of Obama’s judicial nominees.

Hamilton will likely receive an up-or-down vote because Democrats control 60 seats, but conservative and liberal advocates say a filibuster would be significant because it would serve as a precedent for Obama’s future judicial nominees.

But the effort to build momentum for a filibuster has become snagged on dissent within conservative circles over whether it is the right strategy. The outcome of the debate may influence how Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), proceed on other controversial nominees.

Manuel Miranda, a former Senate GOP leadership aide and chairman of Third Branch Conference, a coalition of conservative leaders that has taken an active role in several high-profile debates of judicial nominees, has questioned the push to block Hamilton.

“Respectfully, I disagree with this rally to ‘vote no on the cloture’ for this or any nominee that one would expect a Democratic president to nominate, if he sole purpose is to block or ‘stop,’ and not merely and genuinely to prolong a debate,” Miranda wrote in an e-mail to fellow conservatives.

Miranda’s group was formerly known as the National Committee to End the Judicial Filibuster. He was one of scores of conservative leaders who sent a letter in 2005 to Senate GOP leaders demanding they abolish the filibuster of judicial nominees.

While Miranda still opposes the filibuster of controversial nominees, other conservatives are warming up to the idea with a Democratic president in the White House.

Two dozen conservatives led by former Reagan-era Attorney General Edwin Meese have signed a letter calling on senators to invoke the justification of “extraordinary circumstances” to block Hamilton’s nomination.

“Judge Hamilton is precisely the kind of liberal judicial activist who would use our federal courts as his own superlegislature,” they wrote. “The Senate should vote no on the cloture vote to stop his nomination.”

Nine of the individuals who signed the memo also signed the 2005 letter to GOP leaders calling for them to abolish the filibuster of judicial nominees, an apparent conflict that leaves some conservatives uncomfortable.

Tuesday approval of the Senate will, no doubt, sink even further in the minds of most Americans, although it isn't likley that Republican congressional approval, currently at 19%, can possibly sink any further until after Texas and South Carolina secede.

Another Senate Confirmation Battle To Look Forward To Tuesday

As you've been reading, Senate Republicans, lead by the KKK's own Jeff Sessions, are conducting a systematic obstructionist campaign against every Obama judicial nomination. Tuesday they'll be filibustering David Hamilton, Obama's first nominee... from last March. When Obama-- at the urging of "notorious radicals" Evan Bayh and Dick Lugar-- nominated him, the media greeted the announcement with a big yawn and basically announced that Obama the pick showed that Obama would be appointing qualified and uncontroversial judges. To Jeff Sessions, however, anything vaguely to the left of an Imperial Wizard, a Grand Dragon or an Alabama Kludd is controversial. (Sessions himself was rejected by the Senate for a judicial position after his KKK sympathies were exposed. As ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, he's dragged the GOP into a reign of revenge.)

The Republicans have managed to hold up all of Obama's nominations for months, although when they are finally forced onto the floor for a vote, they pass either without objection or only with the objections of a handful of the most extreme maniacs. Monday for example, the Senate took up two nominations that had been backed up for months, Andre M. Davis, of Maryland, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit (originally nominated by President Clinton and-- had the Republicans not stonewalled the nomination-- he would have been the first-ever African American on the 4th Circuit) and Charlene Edwards Honeywell, of Florida, to be U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida. Honeywell, who had originally been appointed to a judgeship by Jeb Bush, was confirmed 88-1. Davis was another matter. The Ku Klux Klan Kaucus just wouldn't go for it and 16 of them, led by Sessions, of course, voted no. Most of the most unabashed racists in the Senate either skipped the vote or, enjoyed voting against an African-American man for a lifetime position. Among the ones who followed Sessions down that path are neo-Confederates and secessionists David Diapers Vitter (R-LA), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim Bunning (R-KY) and weird sex maniac Ensign (R-NV). As a gage of how racist these kooks are, even arch-obstructionists Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Miss McConnell (R-KY) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) voted to confirm Davis!

So that takes us back to Hamilton and Reid's filing of cloture last Tuesday. Republicans seem to be opposing him because he doesn't back their jihad against Choice and because he won't commit to tearing down the wall between Church and State. They've totally gone around the bend. And it looks like they've taken reactionary Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson with them. He's voting "no" and he may join the actual filibuster as well. Several Republicans have already assured Reid, Bayh and Lugar that they plan to vote for cloture and for Hamilton.

Obama Makes His First Judicial Nomination: Indiana Moderate David Hamilton-- Republican Far Right Obstructionists Are Hysterical Already

A few weeks ago the Grand Obstructionist Party threatened to filibuster all President Obama's judicial nominees. Every single one of them signed a letter making all sorts of pompous demands that flew in the face of the Constitution-- and in the face of Republican practices over the 8 years. If all 41 of them actually stuck together and filibustered all President Obama's nominees, they could actually stop any judges from being voted on and confirmed. Basically the organizers of this stunt-- Miss McConnell, Jon Kyl, Jim DeMint, Richard Burr, Tom Coburn and John Cornyn-- were demanding that Obama continue to appoint right-wing extremists to the federal judiciary, the same kind of garbage that Bush had been stocking the bench with.

The President gave the extremists his answer today: a moderate, well respected trial judge, David Hamilton from Indiana to sit on the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. And this first judicial pick has been wholeheartedly endorsed by both Indiana Senators, conservatove Democrat Evan Bayh and moderate Republican Dick Lugar. Obama will start rolling out his first judicial nominees over the next few weeks but one White House aid, probably Emanuel, told the NY Times that "part of the reason for making the Hamilton nomination the administration’s first public entry into the often contentious field of judicial selection was to serve 'as a kind of signal' about the kind of nominees Mr. Obama will select... 'We would like to put the history of the confirmation wars behind us.'"

Hamilton has been on the bench since 1994 when he was appointed by Bill Clinton. People For the American Way president, Kathryn Kolbert, signaled satisfaction from progressives:

David Hamilton is an ideal choice for this seat. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a willingness to put principle ahead of politics and bring an open mind to every case. Judge Hamilton has shown a deep commitment to the rule of law and core constitutional principles of liberty, equality, and justice for all Americans. 
 
I’m encouraged not only that President Obama has made such a strong choice, but by his success in reaching across the aisle and winning the support of both of Indiana’s Senators. This is a very good sign for the caliber of nominees we can expect from this president. I urge the Senate to move quickly to confirm him.

With Bayh and Lugar behind the nomination, it is unlikely that any conservative Democrats will oppose the nomination and even if every other Republican fillibusters-- which is extremely unlikely-- Hamilton will still be confirmed. But there is already grousing about the nomination from the far right fringe of the GOP. The Republicans who oppose separation of Church and State hate Hamilton and will work with Senate radicals like DeMint, Burr and Cornyn to stir up a contentious, divisive debate. One of the lowbrow Federalist Society/GOP radical front groups Judicial Confirmation Network is already screaming hysterically that Hamilton is "an ultra-liberal."