ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sen. Lott was interviewed Wednesday afternoon by Sean Hannity. Lott is a very engaging fellow. Living up here in Connecticut, it's nice to hear the old Mississippi accent once in a while. Anyway, getting down to the filibuster issue, Senator Lott was reassuring that he and the GOP have no intention of dumping any of the seven previously filibustered nominees. This is good to hear, because they all deserve an up-or-done vote, as a matter of principle. Lott emphasized that.

Senator Lott expects --- but cannot guarantee --- that the "constitutional option" will come to a vote next week, and he expects it to prevail. He acknowledges that it may in some ways hurt the Senate to proceed in that manner, but he says:

The institution needs to be hurt if it's doing something wrong, and what's happened to these people is wrong.

Regarding Minority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Lott mentioned some of Reid's less-than-senatorial conduct lately, and Lott remarked:

His conduct over the past year has got me missing Tom Daschle....Reid's not up for four and a half years, but his party's up every two years.

Neither California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, nor Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, will be dumped by any deal that Senator Trent Lott agrees to, nor should they be. All seven of the previously filibustered nominees deserve meaningful consideration by the Senate --- and that means an up-or-down vote.

A few weeks ago, Professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University Law School remarked that, "All these people are more conservative than I am," but nevertheless, "You can still be a very good judge and hold views that they hold." Turley is right.