Kennedy Defends Senate Filibuster of Judicial Nominees

by Becky Evans

WASHINGTON - - During a nearly 40-hour Senate debate that stretched from Wednesday evening to Friday morning, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., defended Democratic efforts to block confirmation votes on a handful of President Bush's federal judicial nominees.

Republican senators scheduled the nonstop session to protest Democratic filibusters that have prevented votes on the nominations of Priscilla R. Owen of Texas, Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr., U.S. District Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi, and Washington lawyer Miguel A. Estrada, who was so frustrated he withdrew his name from consideration.

Following the marathon debate, Democrats again blocked a confirmation vote on Owen, in addition to Carolyn B. Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown, both of California. Although they hold a majority with 51 senators, Republicans have been unable to muster the 60 votes necessary to end filibusters and hold up-or-down votes on several nominees.

Taking the floor during the 24th hour of the session, Sen. Kennedy delivered a history lesson on the judicial appointment process. He said the Founding Fathers designed the Constitution so that neither the President nor the Senate would have absolute control to determine who would sit on the federal bench.

"It's clear that the Constitutional Convention, which had repeatedly rejected the proposal to let the President alone elect the judges, did not intend the Senate to be a rubberstamp for the president," he said. "And it is equally clear that, especially when the Senate is controlled by the President's own party, the Founders did not intend the Senate to roll over and play dead whenever the President tells them to."

The Senate has confirmed 168 of Bush's judicial nominees. Democrats say they have blocked votes on only the most conservative nominees.

Sen. Kennedy said the high approval rate should satisfy Republicans.

"The Republican leadership on Capitol Hill is ridiculously out of touch with reality in AmericaáThey've shut down the entire United States Senate over four remaining right-wing, anti-abortion turkeys who we won't put on the courts," he said in a statement issued before another two nominees were added to the list.

With little time left before Congress recesses for the holidays, Democrats said Republican were wasting time debating a few judicial nominations rather than working on issues critical to millions of Americans, such as Medicare reform and the nation's energy policy.

Sen. Kennedy said the time would be better spent discussing educational issues, including college affordability and funding for the No Child Left Behind Act, a 2001 law that calls for tougher accountability in low-performing schools.

"We wish our friends from the other side in the last 20 hours had mentioned assistance, had mentioned affordability, but they have been absolutely silent," he said. "We think that the families in our country want us to be talking about education and doing something about it rather than droning on in the way that they have."