The Honorable Arlen Specter
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
April 19, 2005
Dear Senator Specter:
On behalf of our organizations and members throughout Pennsylvania, we are writing to urge you to continue to demonstrate your leadership as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee by opposing any efforts to eliminate the more than 200-year old right to filibuster in the U.S. Senate, especially any efforts to do so through controversial parliamentary maneuvers.
Through its history, the filibuster has prevented a partisan majority from abusing its power and has promoted bipartisan compromise and moderation. For more than one hundred years there was no way to force an end to debate in the Senate – all Senators had to agree to proceed. Since 1917, the Senate has respected a rule adopted (now Senate Rule XXII) that allows a supermajority of the Senate – that is, 60 Senators – to end debate and proceed with a vote.
As you reiterated in a recent press conference and conversation with the Washington Post editorial board, the U.S. Constitution assigned the Senate a critical role in the judicial appointment process, expecting the deliberative body to use its “advise and consent” authority to check the appointment powers of the President. With the advice of the Senate the President can select judicial nominees, but must have the Senate’s confirmation for the lifetime appointment of the nominee. The Constitution expressly provides the Senate with discretion, and does not require the Senate’s immediate approval of all of a president’s nominees. Elimination of Senate Rule XXII would significantly alter the Senate’s constitutional role in the judicial nomination process, effectively denying Senators in the minority party their longstanding right to withhold approval of controversial judicial nominees. The Senate’s role is particularly important given that these nominees are being considered for lifetime appointments. Such nominees should undergo thorough review and engender broad support within the Senate before being confirmed. Denying Senators the ability to filibuster will erode the Senate’s unique bulwark against partisan extremism.
We believe the use of the filibuster in the confirmation process has been judicious and appropriate. During President Bush’s first term, more than 200 of President Bush’s judicial nominees were confirmed by the Senate. Indeed, the vacancy rate on the federal courts stands at its lowest rate in 14 years. The filibuster has been used to block the confirmation of a mere ten of President Bush’s nominees who were considered too controversial for lifetime appointments by many of our organizations and many members of the Senate.
Eliminating this constitutionally-established system of checks and balances specifically to ensure that controversial judicial nominees can receive a slim majority’s vote would create a dangerous precedent. If the rules for judicial nominations are changed, there is no reason to believe that the rules could not also be altered to enable a slim majority to promote other controversial measures. As columnist George Will has said, “it is a short slide down a slippery slope from the postulated illegitimacy of filibustering judicial nominees … to the illegitimacy of filibusters generally. That is not a position conservatives should promote” (Newsweek, December 6, 2004).
On behalf of the fair-minded Pennsylvanians supporting this letter, we urge you to support the U.S. Senate’s historical role in the judicial nomination process and strongly oppose any efforts to eliminate Senators’ right to filibuster.
Sincerely,
Lauren Townsend
Citizens for Consumer Justice
Kathy Miller
Pennsylvania NOW
Eleanor Levie
National Council of Jewish Women - PA
Jim Short CWA District 13
Genevieve Sherrow NARAL Pro-Choice Pennsylvania
Nancy Gordon
Friends of Liberty Action Group (FLAG)
Corey Rowley
Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council
Barry Kauffman
Common Cause PA
Susan Turpening
League of Conservation Voters
Stacey L. Sobel
The Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights
Carol Tracy
Women’s Law Project
Jean Haskell
Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action
Barbara DiTullio
WomenVote PA
Tom Power
Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
Melissa Weiler Gerber WOMENS WAY
Richard Macintyre
East Bradford Citizens for Democracy
Kathy Black
Coalition of Labor Union Women, Philadelphia Chapter
John A. Horst
Pennsylvania Council on the Blind
Thomas Paine Cronin
AFSCME District Council 47
Marlene Santoyo
Germantown Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Ginger Whittington National Women’s Political Caucus, Pennsylvania Chapter
Lani Frank
Chester County Democratic Coalition (2CDC)
Karen Bojar Philadelphia NOW
Patrick Hopkins Planned Parenthood Association of PA
cc: The Honorable Rick Santorum
The Senate Judiciary Committee
