GOP Tactic Puts Spotlight on Democratic 'Obstructionism'
by Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
November 13, 2003
(AgapePress) - As round-the-clock debate on the Democrats' blockade of judicial nominees ground on overnight in the U.S. Senate, conservative groups also spent the night on Capitol Hill to show support for the Republican effort.As Senate Republicans began forcing at least 24 hours of continuous debate in an effort to break a Democrat filibuster that has prevented the confirmation of several of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, pro-family advocates gathered in Washington to lend support to the effort to unblock confirmation of Christian judicial candidates.
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Tony Perkins |
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins says the Republican "talk-athon" is designed to call attention to a problem. "The message is getting out to the American public that something is not right in Washington," he says, "that there are judicial nominees who are being blocked simply because they are conservative and, in some cases, simply because they have deeply held religious beliefs."Perkins feels the Democrats' use of filibusters to block confirmation of selected nominees demonstrates the kind of religious intolerance that some have come to associate with the party. And now, he says, the Republicans' round-the-clock debate is helping raise the awareness of the American public to the anti-Christian bigotry both in the federal courts and now even in the judicial nomination process.
"There are liberals in the country who want to maintain the status quo," Perkins says, "and the Democratic obstructionism is leading to religious de-constructionism in this country." The FRC's president hopes that, as more Americans understand what Democrats are doing, citizens will rise up and demand a change of attitude, and Christian judicial nominees will start getting confirmed.
Focus on the Family chairman Dr. James Dobson has also issued a statement in response to the planned Republican debate, accusing the liberal Senate minority of having long tried to preserve bias in the federal court system by using filibusters against pro-life and pro-family candidates. He says these politicians have circumvented the nomination process, "twisting Senate procedure to prevent votes from ever occurring."
Dobson believes the Senate liberals' actions show that they do not believe Christian men and women should serve on the federal bench -- a bigoted attitude he says is "offensive and clearly cannot be allowed to continue."
The pro-family leader called the Senate Republicans' 30-hour debate plan a bold step "toward ending this outrage" He approved the Republican strategy of showing the American public how the nomination process has been hijacked, and applauded the Senators' efforts to "defend the right of all nominees to receive an up-or-down vote from the full Senate on their qualifications for office."
Recess Appointments Considered
Since the "continuous" debate is only scheduled to last about a day rather than indefinitely, as an actual filibuster would, some observers question whether the Republicans are merely biding time until after the next election. Meanwhile, others suggest the best response to Democratic filibustering would be for Bush to make recess appointments.
But while Marion Harrison of the Judicial Selection Monitoring Project admits he is not sure of what the Senate Republicans' reasoning is, he says he feels strongly that recess appointments are not the way to go.
The judicial process analyst says Bush would be ill-advised to make recess appointments, and that any nominee who accepted one would virtually become "the victim of a firing squad." Harrison feels that any judge Bush appointed during a Congressional recess would be subjected to intermittent political attacks the entire time he or she was on the bench.
