May 29,2005

Gang of 14 Split the Baby for Big Battle Ahead

Glory hallelujah, filibuster forever!

Maybe.

The Gang of 14 self-appointed “compromisers” over filibuster privileges of U.S. Senators split the baby in the liberal/conservative showdown over federal judges.

Three of President Bush’s appointees were given get-out-of-jail-free passes. Two others were promised a stern look-see to make sure there are no “extraordinary circumstances” lurking in the shadows.

Not to worry, says chief compromiser John McCain. “We will be able to determine extraordinary circumstances.” Hello, there. We’re here from the government to help you.

The vendetta of radlib senators against Dubya hit the fan over Majority Leader Bill Frist’s threat to invoke the “constitutional option.” This calls for simple majority votes – cherished by our founding fathers.

In the quaint double-speak of Congress, Democrats describe Frist’s maneuver as the “nuclear option” – like in blowing up.

President Bush has appointed 13 appellate judges. All have been bottled up in the Judiciary committee where Dems nitpicked unceasingly.

Judges Miquel Estrada, Carolyn Huhl, Claude Allen and Charles Pickering withdrew their names after being thoroughly “Borked” by merciless committee Democrats.

Who can forget the hatchet job on Robert Bork delivered by Judiciary Committee Democrats in 1987? It was so obviously false and scurrilous the attack has become a verb for prejudice.

Also, remember the false accusations against Clarence Thomas in 1991 by the same assassins. As an African-American, he was confirmed to the Supreme Court after accusing his detractors of a “high-tech lynching for an uppity (conservative) black!”

Nine appointees endured the backbiting from liberal Democrats on the Judiciary Committee – Owen for more than four years.

An exasperated Frist, with a 10-seat majority, got tired of being Mr. Nice Guy. He announced he would call for a rule change that would invoke the constitutional requirement for a simple majority vote on all issues.

Liberals went bonkers. Sen. Robert Byrd -- the West Virginia Ku Klux Klan’s once “grand dragon” who used the filibuster to block civil rights—thundered that elimination of a 60-vote requirement for passing challenged legislation would be “unconstitutional.”

Worse, it would “disrupt the traditional comity of the Senate.”

The filibuster (Dutch for pirate) – was invented by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 to deal with First World War measures. This was so useful in blocking controversial legislation; both political parties embraced it when not in power.

Frustrated Democrats have overused the filibuster in trying to corral Bush. Now, frightened by the threat of original intent, constitutional majority voting, they wooed politically ambitious Republicans to save them.

Enter Sen. McCain and six other GOP showboats to round out the Gang of 14.

Judges Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor would be allowed an up or down vote without further ado. William Myers and Henry Saad were thrown overboard to fend for themselves among circling sharks.

Owen, a Texas Supreme Court judge, was approved by simple voice vote the next day. Brown, a California Superior Court black judge, will breeze through after the Memorial Day recess. Pryor, Alabama attorney general, will complete the peace offering within days.

After the sacrifice of Myers and Saad, camaraderie and cooperation supposedly will descent upon the Senate like doves from above.

Don’t hold you breath until then. Frist says, “The constitutional option is still on the table, and I will not hesitate to use it.”

All the maneuvering was simply to clear the decks for the bloodier battle lying ahead.

Chief Justice William Rhenquist, incapacitated with cancer, is expected to retire when the current court session ends in June. Then it will be Katy bar the door.

Early betting is for Justice Antonin Scalia, to be named Chief – after some huffing and puffing by the Gang of 14.

Eye gouging, and ear biting, will begin when Bush appoints a jurist for the court vacancy. Put your money on Miguel Estrada. He is an unabashed conservative, a brilliant jurist and would be the first Hispanic-American on the court.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Hispanics are now the largest minority in America?

Or, that the newly adopted “minority rights” – like “abortion rights” -- was constructed from froth in the poorly defined “liberty clause” of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Stay tuned.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun columnist who can be contacted at linwms@lindseywilliams.org