ConfirmThem

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

A bunch of Senators appeared on Hardball recently, and here's a transcript. The parts that I found most interesting were when Senators Byrd and Nelson spoke. Here's Byrd rewriting history:

Now, what you have here is an attempt to pack the courts. FDR tried that in 1937. He failed, because the Senate filibustered and the people became informed as to what was going on.

The real story of how the Senate did not filibuster FDR's court-packing plan can be found here from the Supreme Court Historical Society. Senators in 1937 were afraid of putting themselves in "an embarrassing position if they sought to deny the people's representatives in Congress an opportunity to vote and thereby contrived the triumph of the will of a minority." Like Senator Byrd, Senator Feinstein has also been busily revising history, to insert filibusters where they never really happened.

Senator Ben Nelson also appeared on Hardball. Here's Senator Nelson elaborating on what the term "extraordinary circumstances" means to him:

Judicial activists, in my judgment, should be ineligible to serve on the bench, because they want to make the law, rather than apply it. In that case, I would consider somebody to be under extraordinary circumstances.

Senator Nelson has also said that he would vote against cloture when information about a nominee may be obtained by filibustering. There comes a time, however, when it must become apparent that the White House will not provide that information, and then it seems to me that the filibustering should stop; everyone is free to assume the worst about documents that cannot be obtained.