NOW Urges No Nukes: Preserve the Filibuster to Protect the Rights of All Minorities

By Linda Berg, Political Director

March 28, 2005

One of the most important duties of the Senate is to "advise and consent" to the nomination of federal judges for lifetime appointments.

Serving in this capacity, the Senate confirmed more than 200 of the federal judges nominated by George W. Bush during his first term. It held up only 10 nominees with the time-honored practice called the filibuster, which is essential to the preservation of minority rights in the Senate. (If 41 Senators strongly oppose a bill or nomination, they can vote to continue debate, or filibuster, which delays or blocks a final vote on the nomination.)

Republican party leaders, arguing that the Senate’s "advice and consent" function for judicial nominees should in effect be a rubber stamp for the right-wing Bush agenda, are proposing the use of a procedural machination, dubbed the "nuclear option," that would essentially eliminate the filibuster, destroying two centuries of Senate tradition and tearing down the Senate for partisan gain.

Bush thumbed his nose at Senate Democrats last month by re-nominating 20 judges who were not confirmed in the last Congress, even though seven of them had been the subject of a determined filibuster by the Democrats. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, has made it clear that his party’s opposition to those nominees has not wilted and that Democrats will do whatever is necessary, including launching new filibusters, to block their confirmations.

Under the "nuclear option," when a judicial nomination arrives on the floor of the Senate having faced opposition from the Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee, Republicans can employ a series of procedural tactics which would culminate with Vice President Dick Cheney, acting as chair of the Senate, ruling against the use of filibusters.

A Democratic challenge to this ruling would be subject to a simple majority vote. The filibuster would then be eliminated for all subsequent judicial nominations, and with 55 Republican senators in Bush’s grip, all judicial nominations—including Supreme Court nominations—would be confirmed, regardless of minority opposition.

Senate Democrats have warned that, if the nuclear option is launched, they would use every available procedural maneuver to shut down Senate business. All bipartisan cooperation would cease, there would be no unanimous consent, and Senate business would become mired in procedural wrangling.

NOW leaders called the filibuster a crucial tool in the preservation of minority rights, and urged all senators who are committed to a fair judiciary to hold strong in their determination to filibuster.

"As the Bush Administration continues its relentless campaign to hijack the federal courts with right-wing nominees, the filibuster may be our only recourse to prevent a right-wing court majority that would turn the clock to the 1950s for women, people of color and other disenfranchised groups," said NOW President Kim Gandy.

Sign the Petition to the Senate Leaders to Stop the Nuclear Option!