Vote delay on Bush court pick(one week)

[cal04]

OPPOSITION Democrats have gained a one-week delay for a key Senate panel's vote on President George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the panel's Republican chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, had agree to hold the vote on January 24 instead of today (local time).

"I have assured Chairman Specter that no Democratic Senator will hold the matter over on January 24," Senator Leahy said. "He does not anticipate that any Republican Senator will seek to hold it over at that time." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, blasted the Democrats' move as "unjustified and desperate partisan obstructionism".

"After answering 700 questions for over 18 hours before the committee last week and enduring relentless personal attacks, Judge Alito deserves better," Senator Frist said.
But he predicted that Judge Alito was "on track" to win confirmation in the full Senate, where Republicans hold 55 of 100 seats. His nomination must first be endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17848589%255E1702,00.html

Senate Panel to Vote on Alito Jan. 24
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060117/ap_on_go_su_co/alito

Statement of Sen. Leahy on Scheduling of a Committee Vote on the Nomination of Judge Alito
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060117/pl_usnw/statement_of_sen__leahy_on_scheduling_of_a_committee_vote_on_the_nomination_of_judge_alito304_xml

[ananda]

1. It's not clear to me why..

.. one week matters if they're not gonna filibuster.

Filibuster the creep!

Sue

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Who said they aren't going to filibuster? I haven't seen that story.

[mom cat]

18. The delay is a very good sign! We have a week to flood them with calls,

e=mails and letters.Lets get on it!

[rodeodance]

2. I am glad. as the Dems need to get together on this after being scattered

for a few weeks. I do not know the outcome but the delay will give Bushco some jitters I hope.

[napi21]

3. Ya know, I'm getting really tired of all this "poor guy" crap!

I've been through worse questioning, and longer interviews, and I sure never interviewed for a SCOTUS!

Hell, it wasn't even damn interview! In an interview, you HAVE to answer the questions or YOU DON'T GET THE JOB!

[Timefortruth]

4. "I have assured Chairman Specter that no Democratic Senator

will hold the matter over on January 24,"

I assume that assurance applies to the committee, not to the floor.

It is silly to delay this, it only prolongs the advertisement of Democratic impotence.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. Which is why it looks as if they may indeed filibuster.

[WI_DEM]

5. "Relentless personal attacks" yeah, right.

[WyLoochka]

6. They need more faxes and phone calls

The Dems are meeting on Wednesday and that is when the final decision will be made to filibuster or not.

[mom cat]

19. Agreed! Pressure them now. Now is our moment. We must seize it.

[Skip Intro]

7. 700 questions in 18 hours is bullshit - equals 1.54 min per question.

18 hrs = 1080 minutes. 1080 min divided by 700 questions = 1.54 min per question.

1.54 minutes per question?

This is journalism?

[NashVegas]

8. Perhaps They Were Counting

The "how are yous?"

[shraby]

9. They just pull figures out of their hat for whatever they

need them for.

[mom cat]

21. And that does not even factor in the long rambling speeches by the

Republicans on the committee. the real time per question must have been a lot less!

[cal04]

10. article just came out here saying why the delay

Democrats said they wanted to give senators time to observe a three-day holiday weekend without coming back to face an immediate vote. At the same time, they came under pressure from outside interest groups that want as much time as possible to try to rally public opposition to the nomination. "This is a key swing vote on the Supreme Court and Democrats are not going to be rushed into anything," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060117/ap_on_go_su_co/alito

[Wordie]

11. Excellent! The more time before the hearing, the more Americans will hear

just how bad for the country Alito is.

btw, I just found another great resource site, for finding additional to make our case in LTTEs and emails, etc.

After the re-run of Gore's speech that was just on, a banner said "for more information visit www.acslaw.org. So I did. It is the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS). They have a lot of great info, for both legal scholars and for the average person, too. Interesting, too, that they apparently are the ones who sponsored Gore's speech.

Here's a taste:
Our Mission

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, ACS is comprised of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, policymakers, activists and other concerned individuals who are working to ensure that the fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice are in their rightful, central place in American law.

[mom cat]

20. E-mail Reid Here:

http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm

Keep the pressure up!

[Hawkeye-X]

12. How about PERMANENTLY?

I'm sure Alito has tons of skeletons he is trying to hide right now.

[tuvor]

13. Senate Panel's Vote on Alito Delayed Until Next Week

Democrats Aim To Shorten GOP Victory

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Page A03

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reached an agreement yesterday evening to wait until next Tuesday to vote on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.

The agreement alters the schedule announced Friday, during the final moments of Alito's week-long confirmation hearings, by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who said he would conduct the panel's vote today. His announcement sparked a quarrel with the panel's ranking Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), who said he would seek a delay. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) vowed that a vote in the full Senate, which has final say over all judicial candidates chosen by the president, would take place by the end of the week.

In the end, Specter and Frist essentially acknowledged the prerogative Democrats have under Senate rules to postpone any committee decision for one week. GOP leaders grumbled that Democrats had reneged on an earlier agreement about when the Alito vote would take place -- an agreement that Democrats denied ever existed.

As Republicans express confidence that they have mustered enough votes to confirm Alito, the timing of the committee's action and of the full Senate vote may not dictate whether he joins the court. But the timing plays into the short-term political calculus of both parties, as well as of a coalition of left-leaning advocacy groups that are continuing to air advertisements in an aggressive -- and, so far, relatively ineffective -- campaign to build broad public opposition to the nominee, who is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601035.html

[In Truth We Trust]

14. Filibuster and Impeach, while yo're at it paper ballots and hand counts to

o!

[regnaD kciN]

15. More time to keep the heat on!

BUT we still need to do our heaviest work TOMORROW, before the Senate Democrats hold their caucus. If they make a public announcement then throwing cold water on a filibuster, it will be awfully hard for them to backtrack later.

A QUESTION: Which current Democratic Senators are currently thought of as likely Presidential candidates in 2008? I can think of Hillary, Kerry, and Feingold. Anyone else? My thought is that, while we should all call our own Senators, everyone should call them as well -- after all, if they're likely going to be running for higher office, they'll need more than just the votes of Democrats from their own home states.

(And let's give Feinstein an earful, while we're at it!)

:kick: