First President in US History to Have Voted to Filibuster a Supreme Court Nominee Now Hopes for Clean Process
May 30, 2009 1:08 PM
President Obama's expressed hope today in his weekly address "that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past" runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
So while there is little indication Republicans intend to filibuster President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the GOP will likely invoke the President's unique history whenever he calls their tactics into question.
In January 2006, then-Sen. Obama joined 24 colleagues in a futile effort led by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of now-Justice Samuel Alito.
On January 29, 2006, Mr. Obama told George Stephanopulos on "This Week" that he would "be supporting the filibuster because I think Judge Alito, in fact, is somebody who is contrary to core American values, not just liberal values, you know. When you look at his decisions in particular during times of war, we need a court that is independent and is going to provide some check on the executive branch, and he has not shown himself willing to do that repeatedly."
[...]It does not appear that a filibuster will be attempted against Sotomayor.
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., was among 28 Republicans who voted against Sotomayor's ascension to the Court of Appeals in 1998.
But he told CNN this week, "I don't sense a filibuster in the works."
"The nominee has serious problems," Sessions said. "But I would think that we would all have a good hearing, take our time, and do it right. And then the senators cast their vote up or down based on whether or not they think this is the kind of judge that should be on the court."
Good lcuk with that. The Republicans are still operating under the misguided delusion that the Dems play it straight.
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NYT: Sotomayor's focus on race issues may be hurdle...
AP Flashback: Obama supported filibuster of Alito...
