Feminist Court Watch
Why Filibuster?
The President Gets to Nominate but the Senate Must Confirm
Under the Constitution, the Senate has an equal role to the President
in the judicial confirmation process. The President nominates judicial
appointees and sends them to the Senate for its advice and consent.
The Senate may reject a nominee for any reason it chooses and owes
no duty to defer to the President.
Senators Have a Constitutional Responsibility to Scrutinize
Nominees
Senators not only have the right, but also the responsibility to
know the philosophical stances of nominees on such vital issues
as Roe v. Wade. To adequately perform their constitutional
duty in ensuring that Supreme Court appointees serve the best interests
of American citizens, Senators must research and review the court
decisions, writings, and speeches of nominees, hold senate committee
hearings, sufficiently consider their constituents' opinions, and
adequately determine nominees' views on important issues such as
a woman's fundamental right to abortion.
The Senate must reject any judicial nominee who will not affirmatively
commit to uphold the constitutional protection of privacy for a
woman's right to abortion. No one today would support a judicial
nominee who believed or argued that Brown v. Board of Education,
which ended segregation in schools, should be overruled; the same
respect should be shown to Roe
v. Wade. Actions by pro-choice Senators to oppose anti-choice,
anti-women nominees in the Senate will be crucial in blocking President
Bush's determined attempts to stack
the federal courts with reactionary judges, and more importantly,
to protect the slim 5-4 margin on Roe v. Wade on the Supreme
Court.
The Filibuster Strategy: Blocking
Anti-choice Supreme Court Nominees
The most recent Supreme Court decision on abortion (Stenberg
v. Carhart) in 1999 was decided by a razor thin margin of 5-4
in favor of abortion rights. The appointment of even one more anti-choice
justice could result in the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Because
of the Supreme Court's role in upholding Roe v. Wade, any
Supreme Court nominee who does not affirmatively voice support for
a woman's right to abortion must be blocked.
 Although
the majority of Americans support a woman's right to abortion, a
pro-choice majority is not certain in the Senate. Many Senators
have mixed records when voting on abortion rights, making the likelihood
of obtaining the 51 votes required to defeat a nominee very slim.
The pro-choice movement's most viable strategy in saving Roe
on the Supreme Court is to filibuster!
A filibuster permits unlimited debate and only requires
41 Senators to sustain it. Through sustaining a filibuster,
Senators can block a judicial nomination from coming to a full Senate
vote, thus effectively stopping the confirmation of any nominee
who refuses to uphold Roe. In order to stop the filibuster
and vote on the confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, 60 Senators
must agree to end the debate and hold a vote. If 60 Senators do
not vote to end the debate, the vote cannot be held. If no vote
is held, the President will be forced to withdraw the nominee or
the seat will remain vacant. The Senate Judiciary Committee has
promised to send Supreme Court nominees to the Senate floor for
a full vote no matter the outcome of a committee vote. A filibuster
may be the only means for pro-choice Senators to defeat an anti-abortion
Supreme Court nominee and ensure that we never
go back to a nation that denies women the freedom and equality
guaranteed by the US Constitution.
Nominees
to the Supreme Court Have Been Stopped Before
Over the course of American history, the Senate has rejected about
one in five of the President's nominees for the U.S. Supreme Court.
From 1789 to 2000, Presidents have nominated 149 Supreme Court justices.
Of these, the Senate rejected 27 - 12 by negative vote, 10 by taking
no action, and 5 through the president's decision to withdraw the
nominee. "George Washington had his Chief Justice nominee rejected
in 1795. Between 1795 and 2001, approximately 20 percent of Supreme
Court nominees have failed to be confirmed." - People For the
American Way, October 31, 2002
In more recent history, Republicans filibustered in 1968 to stop
Abe Fortas from becoming the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
In 1969, the Senate refused to confirm two of President Nixon's
nominees: Clement Haynsworth and Harold Carswell. Both nominees
faced strong opposition by civil rights groups. The Nixon nominee
who was finally confirmed was Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe
v. Wade. During the Reagan presidency, two candidates to the
Supreme Court, Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsberg, were stopped. The
Senate voted against Bork 58-42 and Ginsberg's nomination was withdrawn.
|
