Cliffhanger: this week in the life of Phil E. Buster [View All]

[oxbow]

Thanks to the efforts of John Kerry, PFAW and millions of other American citizens, the attack on the filibuster, which everybody expected to go down this week, was again routed. On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid stood on the steps of the Senate with over a million signatures collected in just a few days, defiant and proving to the powers that be that we are dead serious about keeping our courts moderate. Meanwhile, Senator Rick Santorum, the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, had to reassure his base that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will go forward with the attack as scheduled. This was after a briefing of Conservative activists, scheduled for the Easter weekend, was abruptly cancelled.

And so, the nuclear option was averted for one more week. All we want is moderates in the highest courts in the land. Is this too much to ask? Democrats have allowed 95% of the GOP’s judicial nominees to go through without opposition. Shouldn’t they just say ‘thank you’ and stop this crazy power-play now? In a country where we are having squeakers of elections across the board, is it really right for one side to decide what kind of judges will mete out justice in our highest courts? The filibuster was created to protect the rights of the political minority, and to stimulate discussion and compromise in the Senate. Compromise is one of the founding principles of our government; the Bill of Rights was created as a compromise between federalists and states’ rights advocates that allowed the Constitution to be ratified. Many more examples exist in our history, including the filibuster. It is the only form of minority rights that we have for the Senate, and it would be a grave mistake for them to kill it now, as the country is still healing from last year’s divisive elections.

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