WASHINGTON -Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday it was not radical to ask senators to vote on judicial nominees as he hardened his effort to strip Democrats of their power to stall President Bush's picks for the federal court.
Frist, speaking at an event organized by Christian groups trying to rally churchgoers to support an end to judicial filibusters, also said judges deserve respect
not retaliation no matter how they rule.
A potential candidate for the White House in 2008, the Tennessee Republican made no overt mention of religion in the brief address, according to a text of his videotaped remarks released before the event in Louisville, Ky.
Instead, Frist seemed intent on steering clear of the views expressed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other conservatives in and out of Congress who have urged investigations and even possible impeachment of judges they describe as activists.
Our judiciary must be independent impartial and fair
Frist said.
When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values
we will say so. But we must also be clear that the balance of power among all three branches requires respect -not retaliation. I won't go along with that
Frist said.
For months, Frist has threatened to take action that would shut down the Democrats' practice of subjecting a small number of judicial appointees to filibusters. Barring a last-minute compromise, a showdown is expected this spring or summer.
I don't think it's radical to ask senators to vote. I don't think it's radical to expect senators to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities
said Frist, whom Democrats have accused of engaging in radical Republican politics.
While a majority of the Senate is sufficient to confirm a judge, it takes 60 votes under Senate rules to overcome a filibuster and force a final vote.
Rather than change the rules directly, Frist and other Republicans have threatened to seek an internal Senate ruling that would declare that filibusters are not permitted against judicial nominees.
Because such a ruling can be enforced by majority vote, and Republicans have 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, GOP leaders have said they expect to prevail if they put the issue to the test.
Democrats blocked 10 appointments in Bush's first term. The president has re-nominated seven of the 10 since he won re-election, and Democrats have threatened to filibuster them again.
Republicans pushed two of the nominees -including Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen -from the Senate Judiciary Committee last week on party-line votes.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., raised the possibility of a deal. I think we should compromise and say to them that ... we'll let a number of the seven judges go through
the two most extreme not go through and put off this vote and compromise
he said on ABC's This Week.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is open to compromise, his spokesman Jim Manley said yesterday. There's lot of concern among Republicans about the road Senator Frist is leading the Senate down
Manley said.
In his remarks, Frist singled out Owen for praise, possibly indicating she will become the test case for the expected showdown. She has been nominated for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Frist said that even though a majority of senators support her
she has been denied an up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate ... Justice Owen deserves better. She deserves a vote.
The majority leader noted that some Republicans are opposed to ending judicial filibusters, fearing that the GOP might someday want to use the same tactics against appointments made by a Democratic president.
