Senate Filibuster -- Longest in a Decade

[Timber Loftis]

Over a HEATED topic -- the confirmation of much-needed Judges and Partisan Politics. *sarcasm mode off* But, it's got some funny bits in it. Read on...

Today's NY Times

November 14, 2003
Filibuster Continues as More Court Nominees Are Blocked
By NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — After almost 40 hours of wearying, temper-fraying debate, Senate Democrats succeeded today in blocking three of President Bush's nominees to federal appeals courts, and they appeared to be in good position to block more nominations during the day.

The Democrats stymied the nomination of Judge Priscilla Owen of the Texas Supreme Court for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which sits in New Orleans; Judge Carolyn Kuhl of California for the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, and Justice Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Fifty-three senators voted in favor of ending debate on the three nominations nomination and moving to yes-or-no votes on their confirmation.

But since 60 votes are required to break a filibuster and end debate, the nominations failed to move forward. Today's vote marked the fourth time that President Bush's Republican allies in the Senate have failed to advance Judge Owen, despite the Republicans' majority in the Senate. (There are 51 Republican senators, to 48 Democrats and 1 independent, James Jeffords of Vermont, who generally sides with Democrats.)

On each nomination, two Democratic Senators, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Zell Miller of Georgia, sided with the 51 Republicans.

The setbacks for the judges, whose records are too conservative in the views of most Senate Democrats, were certain to stoke already hot tempers and bring more charges and countercharges between Republicans and Democrats, especially after the all-night working session that finally ended at 9:30 this morning after more than 39 hours.

The extraordinary session, called by Republicans to complain about Democrats' tactics in blocking some of President Bush's judicial nominees, was more than anything a vivid demonstration of the decline in relations between the two parties.

At one point on Thursday, Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said he was witnessing lots of sanctimony and hypocrisy, and mentioned a pair of Republicans, Senators Robert F. Bennett of Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona.

Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, then took the floor to say that if Mr. Harkin did that again, he would have him cited for violating Senate rules that prohibit unclothed insult.

"It's not right," Mr. Nickles said, "to be coming down and mentioning senators by name and using words like `sanctimonious hypocrisy.' "

Mr. Harkin was gone from the chamber by then. In fact, for most of the debate the floor was occupied by only a few senators, at least one from each party to watch the other side and make sure that there were no sudden moves to bring up a judicial nomination or a bill.

Republicans displayed large charts with judicial nominees' photographs, which looked like posters of missing children. Democrats countered with a large display of their own, bearing faces of Clinton nominees who they said had been treated far worse.

It was the Senate's first all-nighter in a decade and bore some features of the historic debates of years past.

In keeping with their effort to depict the session as a political stunt, the Democrats declined to have any cots set up outside the chamber for weary senators. Such a gesture was deemed excessively dramatic by the Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

Republicans very much wanted the cots, with their implicit message of physical discomfort and commitment. On Wednesday, in the presence of a large press contingent, they had 10 cots installed in the Strom Thurmond Room, named for the South Carolina senator who in 1957 famously held the floor single-handedly for 24 hours 18 minutes to oppose a civil rights bill, a record still unmatched.

But as the debate wore through Thursday, the blankets and neat hospital-cornered sheets remained unrumpled. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, an assistant Republican leader and a chief architect of the session, said it had turned out that they were not needed. "My folks intended to use them if there were going to be lots of quorum calls," he said, meaning repeated roll-call votes to record their presence.

So other than those assigned to speak at specified times, the senators simply went home, or to their Capitol offices. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, briefly napped on a cot he had put in his outer office.

Republicans repeatedly attacked Democrats for using the threat of filibusters to block four of the president's nominees to federal appeals courts. They are infuriated that although they have 51 votes — a majority, however slim — they have not been able to win confirmation for more than the 28 appellate nominees already approved.

Other candidates who have been blocked are William Pryor Jr., nominated for the appeals court based in Atlanta; Charles W. Pickering for the appeals court based in New Orleans, and Miguel Estrada, for an appeals court based in Washington, who has withdrawn his candidacy.

During the long debate, Senator Miller of Georgia, a conservative who often sides with Republicans, drew anger from some civil rights groups by saying that another Bush nominee to whom Democrats have expressed opposition, Justice Brown of the California Supreme Court, was being faulted because her opponents would not tolerate a black conservative. The message to her, Mr. Miller said, is if she takes conservative stands, "gal, you will be lynched."

The session began Wednesday evening with a procession of some Republican senators marching into the chamber. Democratic staff members gleefully distributed an intercepted e-mail message to the Republican Senate offices from an aide to Dr. Frist urging them all to be present for the march because the majority believed it had an agreement with the Fox News Channel to televise the procession live if enough members participated.

It was not until nearly 3 a.m. Thursday that one standby of past marathon debates made its appearance: the reading from a book. In this case the reading, by Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat of Arkansas, was more apt than the old readings from telephone books or children's stories. Mr. Pryor recited from a chapter of Robert A. Caro's biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, "Master of the Senate," that describes in great detail the very chamber where the debate was taking place.

[Seraph]

I'm confused, when exactly was this "longest in a decade" filibuster? The article only makes a few refrences to the democratic filibusters, and never calls one of them the "longest in a decade".