South Dakota Senate outlaws most abortion
by a vote of 23 to 12. The bill bans all abortion except when the life of the mother is endangered and will almost certainly face a lawsuit in federal court on its likely way to the Supreme Court.
Harriet Miers had fun
From Political Wire…
Harriet Miers is out of hiding and recently gave an interview to the Dallas Morning Star, her hometown paper. In the interview, Ms. Miers was clear that she had no regrets about her failed attempt at replacing Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court:
“There was a lot of noise,” Ms. Miers acknowledged Thursday in her first interview since the nomination. “But there were also a lot of great moments.”
Would she accept again?
“I not only would say ‘yes’ when called to this nature of service,” said Ms. Miers, the top White House lawyer. “But I would recommend it to others, and I have.”
We miss you, Harriet.
Feb 10, 2006 by Matthew Slutsky in
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The Final Roll Call Vote on Alito
No surprises but worth putting up on the site. From the New York Times…
Senate Roll Call: Alito Vote
The 72-25 roll call by which the Senate voted to end debate on Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination. On this vote, a “yes” vote was a vote to end the debate and a “no” vote was a vote to filibuster the nomination. Voting “yes” were 19 Democrats and 53 Republicans. Voting “no” were 24 Democrats and one independent.
Alabama
Sessions (R) Yes; Shelby (R) Yes.
Alaska
Murkowski (R) Yes; Stevens (R) Yes.
Arizona
Kyl (R) Yes; McCain (R) Yes.
Arkansas
Lincoln (D) Yes; Pryor (D) Yes.
Jan 31, 2006 by Matthew Slutsky in
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The Brave 25
While the Senate voted yesterday in favor of cloture in the Alito nomination and will almost certainly confirm the nominee today, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time in recent memory, the leadership of the Democratic party chose to side with the activist wing of the party and take a principled stand against the extreme right wing of this country that wishes to turn back the clock on civil rights and economic progress. If you have a moment, thank these twenty five brave Senators who voted against the extremist views of Samuel Alito:
Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (D-DE)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY)
Dayton, Mark (D-MN)
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
Durbin, Richard (D-IL)
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
Jeffords, James M. (I-VT)
Kennedy, Edward M. (D-MA)
Kerry, John F. (D-MA)
Lautenberg, Frank R. (D-NJ)
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)
Levin, Carl (D-MI)
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD)
Murray, Patty (D-WA)
Obama, Barack (D-IL)
Reed, Jack (D-RI)
Reid, Harry (D-NV)
Sarbanes, Paul S. (D-MD)
Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY)
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI)
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)
Atrios points out that five of these Senators are up for re-election this year. And Digby has a wonderful post mortem up. Notice that every presidential hopeful in ‘08 voted against Alito. The tide is turning.
Jan 31, 2006 by Joshua Skaroff in
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Looks Like It’s Over…We Lost
The US Senate this afternoon voted 72 to 25 to invoke cloture on the debate over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to become the next Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. Invoking cloture is necessary before the Chamber can have a final vote on the nomination. 60 votes are required to invoke cloture; and only a simple majority vote is required to approve a nominee. Passing this motion virtually assures that the nomination will be approved tomorrow.
The final vote on the confirmation is scheduled to be held tomorrow at 11:00 Eastern Time in advance of President Bush’s annual State of the Union Address when he will speak to a Joint Session of Congress.
Jan 30, 2006 by Peter Slutsky in
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A Big Day for America
Today is going to be a make or break day for this country. Republicans will attempt to force a cloture vote at around 4:30 PM EST to end debate on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Today, we’ll get to see which Democratic Senators put their money where their mouths are to support Senators Kennedy and Kerry’s filibuster on Judge Alito.
Read John Kerry’s piece today from the Huffington Post. Excerpt of Kerry’s piece below:
No one will be able to say, in five to ten years, that they are surprised by the decisions Judge Alito makes from the bench. They know that in his fifteen years on the Third Circuit, Judge Alito has almost never voted in favor of African-American plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases. They know that he routinely defers to government invasions into personal privacy, often going out of his way to excuse unlawful government actions. And they know that the only statement he has ever made regarding a woman’s right to privacy is that she does not have one.
Jan 30, 2006 by Matthew Slutsky in
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Break on Through To the Other Side
The greatest disappointment of these Alito proceedings is the inability for the Democrats to persuade any Republican Senators to join in the dissent of Bush’s right-wing choice to sit on America’s highest court. It is not altogether surprising that nobody wanted to vote against their party and their leader, at the risk of losing RSCC or RNC money, but that didn’t stop us from at least holding out hope.
Yesterday, Survey USA released their Senate rankings. Two of the five highest rated Senators are the two GOP Senators from Maine, Snowe (2) and Collins (4). It would have been nice to see one or both of them abandon their party to send their renegade leaders a message. They can’t stand to lose too much given their local popularity. It was no surprise to see that faux-moderate Arlen Spector (56) refused to support his own Pro-Choice stance, and align with his party, but nonetheless, it was a reaffirmation that even if you are named a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only), you are still a Republican.
In the words of the former Democratic Representative from Texas Sam Rayburn, “Son, if you can’t take their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women, and then vote against ‘em, you don’t deserve to be here.”
Jan 27, 2006 by Jake in
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Sen. Kerry to Filibuster
Politicalwire reports today that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is preparing to lead a filibuster against the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito (RRR-NJ). Sen. Kerry promised back in June of 2003 that he would filibuster any nominee to the Supreme Court who would threaten Roe.
We’ll see how far he gets. Go Johnny Go!
“I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose or the constitutional right to privacy, on civil rights and individual liberties and on the laws protecting workers and the environment.”
– Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), quoted by the AP, June 20, 2003.
Jan 26, 2006 by Peter Slutsky in
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Casey Jr. Supports Alito
It was probably to be expected, but Bob Casey Jr., the Rendell/Schumer annointed anti-choice Democratic candidate picked to run against Rick Santorum in the 2006 PA Senate election, came out this morning in favor of the nomination of Alito to the Supreme Court.
For weeks, Republicans have called Casey “Silent Bob” and pressed him to say whether he supports Alito’s confirmation. Casey and Alito have a family connection because Alito, who serves on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia, sided with Casey’s father, the late Gov. Bob Casey, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The case challenged a state law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.
“I do not agree with everything that Judge Samuel Alito has done or said - particularly many of his rulings which too often result in corporate power prevailing over the interests of consumers and workers,” Casey said in a statement. “However, I agree with The Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post editorial boards that the arguments against Judge Alito do not rise to the level that would require a vote denying him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Casey has had a relationship with Alito dating back to the judge’s dissent in favor of Casey’s father in the Planned Parenthood vs. Casey case. Unfortunately this endorsement is another step towards the right’s goal of blocking women from the basic human right to choose. Chuck Pennachio, another candidate for the PA nomination, has some words for Casey on his blog.
Jan 25, 2006 by Joshua Skaroff in
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