Senate GOP Could Filibuster Obama Legal Nominees

[babylonsister]

Storm Clouds Gather Over Obama Nominees

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: March 31, 2009


WASHINGTON — Although the parties have changed places, the nomination wars continue.

Senate Republicans are struggling to adapt to an altered political world when it comes to candidates for federal courts and senior Justice Department posts.

No longer able simply to defend choices made by a fellow Republican, as they did under President George W. Bush, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have turned into vocal critics of many of President Obama’s legal nominees. They complain that several are committed liberal ideologues, much in the way Democrats complained that Mr. Bush’s choices were committed conservative ideologues.

But so far, facing a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, they have been able to do little beyond briefly delaying confirmation. Now they are weighing whether to use the filibuster — a threat of extended debate, the tool many Republican senators regularly denounced when it was used by Democrats to block some Republican nominees. These are certainly different times.

The current Republican focus is on a pair of nominees: Mr. Obama’s first selection for a federal appeals court seat, David F. Hamilton, and his choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen. (By coincidence, the two are in-laws.)

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/us/politics/01justice.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[atreides1]

1. Let them

My bet is that it won't last long, and in the case of Dawn Johnsen, one could point out that Republicans are advocates for torture and for putting US military personnel in more danger then they already face.

[Enrique]

2. omg she criticized Bush!

what a radical nomination! :scared:

[paulk]

3. at some point the Dems have got to call their bluff

with the current economic crisis, etc, I don't see how the GOP would gain coming out of shutting down the government over something the great majority of voters would see as minor.

[endarkenment]

4. Well then we should nuke their fillibuster.

And end the supermajority bullshit in the senate once and for all.

[Historic NY]

5. Can he use recess appointments?

[defendandprotect]

6. Yes . . . something evidently the Democrats could never do . .

[WI_DEM]

7. Of course they can and so could the Dems when Bush was in if they had had the guts

[Winterblues]

9. Democrats entered into an agreement with Republican about filibustering

Bush*'s nominees. They agreed they would not filibuster and the Republicans agreed they would not "Nuke" the filibuster..IOW create a law to do away with it entirely... Republicans have not entered into any agreements with Democrats and Democrats have not threatened to do away with the fillibuster.

[L. Coyote]

8. If done to prevent the OLC from moving forward on torture prosecutions, its obstruction

of justice, and not a filibuster!

[zbdent]

10. ready the video clips of ReRushlicans

calling for "up or down votes" on the judicial nominees ...

[geek tragedy]

11. Time for the Constitutional Option.

Let's just get rid of the filibuster once and for all.