Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Democratic Victory

http://byrd.senate.gov/The%20Deal.pdf

Plainly, this is a victory for Democrats, in interpreting "advice and consent" as a great role for the Senate. Implicit is that the Senate may also give consent under its own rules, whatever they may be, and there is no requirement that a President "get his nominees."
Read the conclusion (emphasis added):

"We Believe that, under Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution, the word "Advice" speaks to consultation between the Senate and the President with regard to the use of the President's power to make nominations. We encourage the Executive Branch of government to consult with members of the Senate, both Democratic and Republican, prior to submitting a judicial nomination to the Senate for consideration.

Such a return to the early practice of our government may well serve to reduce the rancor that unfortunately accompanies the advice and consent process in the Senate.

We firmly believe this agreement is consistent with the traditions of the United States Senate seek to uphold.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you notice that 2 of the Democrats who signed the compromise--Byrd and Landrieu--voted for Judge Priscilla Owen today? Curiouser and curiouser. What else was promised that was not written down, I wonder?

Anonymous said...

I heard that moderate Republicans were also annoyed the Bush only talked to Frist. Senators like to think they are all special in their own way and are jealus of what they consider their "rights." Being "consulted" is a big "right" for Senators. And Bush has made a career of not consulting anyone - not even other factions within his own party.

I also heard that later head counts were saying Frist had the votes he needed to end the filibuster rule. Moderate Republicans realized late that they would be completely cut out of any nomination discussions in the future without the filibuster in place - at least as a potential threat.

In terms of policy advocating judges, the Republicans got most of what they wanted. But they are the majority. They should get most of what they want. Just not all of it. And this deal is probably the best the Democrats could have gotten at this time.

But I say unleash hell on the GOP when we take back the majority in either house! 

// posted by Raised By Republicans

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm ready to say it....I WAS RIGHT . Well, mostly.

The consensus seems to be that this deal represents "backing down" by the Republicans (at least 7 of them). Which is what I predicted in an earlier post. 

// posted by Raised By Republicans