| More than
a dozen Senators entered tense negotiations Tuesday
evening over the details of a proposed compromise on
judicial filibusters, convening a series of bipartisan,
closed-door meetings to attempt to come to an agreement
to prevent the nuclear option, Roll
Call reports Wednesday.
Roll Call's Paul Kane indicates
that the group says that enough Democratic and Republican
senators are considering signing on, possibly averting
a plan by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) to quash minority vetoes
of judicial nominees.
Excerpts follow:
The group held three separate meetings Tuesday afternoon
and evening, breaking from Sen. John Warner’s
(R-Va.) office shortly before 7 p.m. without an agreement,
according to one aide. The group expects to meet again
today.
Broadly, signatories of the centrist-sponsored memo
would commit to opposing both the nuclear option and
future filibusters, while allowing more than half
of the already filibustered judicial nominees to be
approved.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who in 2003 seriously
researched filing a lawsuit against Senate Democrats
to end judicial filibusters, is now part of the group
working to sign on to a deal even though it will likely
leave three nominees stymied by filibuster.
And Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), whose speeches in
defense of the filibuster earlier this spring became
a rallying cry to liberal activists, joined a meeting
of about a dozen Senators in Warner’s office
Tuesday afternoon to review various proposals for
the memorandum of understanding, according to aides.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who has voiced concerns
about the party-line evisceration of judicial filibusters,
said she thought there was momentum toward a deal.
“I would say more likely than not,” she
said before the critical afternoon sessions.
The basic structure of the deal remains intact as it
was first reported by Roll Call on May 9.
• That four of the seven filibustered nominees
would be approved for a vote, with California Supreme
Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown and two of those
from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals potentially
on the approval list;
• That three would be rejected, with William
Myers to the 9th Circuit and Henry Saad to the 6th
Circuit possibly on the filibustered list;
• That at least six Democrats would foreswear
any other filibusters except in “extraordinary
circumstances”;
• That at least six Republicans would foreswear
Frist’s effort to end filibusters by the parliamentary,
party-line vote now known commonly as the nuclear
option.
Those involved include: Democrats Nelson, Pryor, Salazar,
Byrd, Lieberman, and Landrieu, aides said. Also attending:
Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)
and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
On the Republican side, senators include McCain, Snowe,
Collins, Warner, and Graham. Also thought to have attended
include GOP members of the Judiciary Committee: Arlen
Specter (R-Pa.) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio).
The deal would not be supported by Frist, Roll
Call asserts.
Read the full story at the paid-restricted Roll
Call.
Article originally published May 18, 2005. |
