Leahy: 'Insurmountable' Push For Filibuster Rules Change If GOP Blocks Obama Nominee

[Tx4obama]

Patrick Leahy: 'Insurmountable' Push For Filibuster Rules Change If GOP Blocks Obama Nominee

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted Tuesday that things could get ugly if Republicans block a vote this week on one of President Barack Obama's key judicial nominees, Patricia Millett.

The pressure to change Senate rules and strip Republicans of their power to filibuster certain judicial nominees "would be almost insurmountable" if Republicans block Millet's confirmation vote to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Leahy said at an event advocating Millett, currently a Supreme Court appellate attorney.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has already threatened to invoke the so-called nuclear option if Republicans don't let at least one of Obama's D.C. Circuit nominees get a vote. Millett, who will come up for a vote as soon as Thursday, is the first of Obama's three D.C. Circuit nominees to hit the Senate floor. Nina Pillard cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is ready for a floor vote, while Robert Wilkins is set for his committee vote on Thursday.

The Senate narrowly averted a historic showdown over Obama's nominees this summer. During that fight, Democrats came close to going "nuclear," or using arcane Senate procedures to force votes on stalled nominees with a simple 51-vote majority, instead of the 60 votes required to break a filibuster.

While partisan fights over Obama nominees aren't new, the stakes are particularly high when it comes to the D.C. Circuit Court. The court has broad power to review federal regulations and is considered second only to the Supreme Court in terms of its stature. The court has 11 seats, four of which are filled with Democratic-appointed judges and four of which are filled with Republican-appointed judges. The remaining three slots are vacant.

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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/patrick-leahy-filibuster_n_4175656.html

[lostincalifornia]

1. Absolutely

[elleng]

2. 'Almost insurmountable.'

been that way for a LONG time!

[longship]

3. That is kind of the way the Senate works.

Fortunately or unfortunately. The deal is that nobody wants to pull that trigger. Harry Reid has leaked that he may do it. This scares the bejesus out of the Republicans, and the Democrats.

But what it does is raises the bar. Reid can bring a consensus by threatening the nuclear option.

My very strong feeling is that a filibuster should be a standing filibuster. When a Senator says they're going to filibuster, the opponent party's response should be, "Bring it on, Hoss! Let's see how long you can go."

That will do more to bring comity back to the US Senate than almost anything else. At worse, it will make the minority put their mouths where their money is.

[elleng]

4. ABSOLUTELY!