Democrats Must Stop Filibustering
President Bush’s Judicial Nominees!

By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

Washington, DC – The Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing this coming Thursday on the nominations of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the federal bench.

Both of these fine jurists were blocked for years from receiving an up or down vote in the full Senate because of liberal obstructionists on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Justice Owen, for example, was first nominated by President Bush in May, 2001. Democrats waited 440 days before holding a hearing on her nomination and then voted along party lines in the committee in September, 2002 to deny her a vote in the full Senate.

The same fate has befallen Justice Brown. Her nomination has been stalled by liberal Senators since 2003.

The screeching leftist special interest groups like People for the American Way have worked hand in glove with Senate liberals to lie and to distort the records of these well qualified women to serve as federal judges.

Both of these women are being smeared as “activist” judges when the opposite is true. Both believe in interpreting rather than creating law when issuing rulings. They both believe in judicial restraint and neither believes that the judiciary is the only branch of government—unlike many liberals.

The liberal cabal is deeply concerned not only that qualified judges like Justices Owen and Brown will become federal judges, but they are also concerned about losing the stranglehold they have on filibustering judicial nominees from receiving a fair up or down vote in the Senate.

This obstructionism must stop!

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently sent a letter of concern over this obstructionism to Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NM). In it, McConnell stated, “Democrats’ continued insistence on obstructing judicial nominees threatens our Constitution’s careful separation of powers among the three branches of government. Never before in the history of the country has a minority of senators filibustered—on a systematic, repeated, and partisan basis—well-qualified judicial nominees.”

Fortunately, this corruption of the advice and consent role of the Senate may soon be over. It is time for Senate Republicans to restore fairness to the process of confirming judges. It is time for a restoration of the 214-year tradition of approving the President’s nominations by a simple majority vote.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is determined to restore Senate tradition in how it deals with the filibustering of judges. This must be done if the entire Senate is expected to fulfill its proper advice and consent role in voting for or against judicial nominees.

When President Bush first nominated Justice Owen to the federal bench, he said that he wanted judges who understood that it was their role to “interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench.” Liberals, of course, want judges who will use their power to implement leftist social engineering thinly disguised as impartial rulings.

The difference between the liberal activist mentality and judges who believe in restraint is the contrast between living under a judicial oligarchy or a Republic. Liberals apparently prefer a judicial tyranny over a constitutional government—as long as it is “their” tyranny that rules.