WASHINGTON -Breaking years of gridlock, the Senate cleared the way for confirmation of Priscilla Owen to the U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday amid fresh debate over an ambiguous compromise on President Bush's current and future judicial nominees.
I appreciate the fact I'm finally going to get a vote
said Owen, swiftly invited to the White House for a presidential show of support. She is my friend and more importantly she is a great judge said Bush, a fellow Texan.
The vote was 81-18 to clear Owen for a final vote after Democrats abandoned four years of blocking action, well above the 60 votes needed to cut off debate. That made confirmation a mere formality, expected either late yesterday or today.
At the same time, senators disagreed over the precise meaning and staying power of Monday night's centrists' compromise that averted a showdown over judicial nominees -including any to the Supreme Court -and the Senate's own filibuster rules.
Majority Leader Bill Frist said the agreement, if followed in good faith will make filibusters of judicial nominees in the future
including Supreme Court nominees
almost impossible. At the same time, he said his ability to seek a limitation of the rights of Democrats to filibuster remains on the table.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada disagreed and said so quickly.
The agreement that will allow Justice Owen to receive an up-or-down vote also had the effect of taking the nuclear option off the table
he said, referring to Frist's threat to strip Democrats of their ability to filibuster. This agreement makes clear that the Senate rules have not changed. The filibuster remains available to the Senate minority.
Under Senate rules, opponents of legislation or a nomination can prevent final action by erecting a 60-vote hurdle, a parliamentary device known as a filibuster.
Republican Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, one of seven Republicans and seven Democrats to sign the accord, sided with Frist's interpretation, although he and other members of the bipartisan group of negotiators said they expected good faith to prevail.
Those who say otherwise are the same ones
I think
who said we would never get an agreement
said John McCain, R-Ariz.
That accord was sealed Monday evening around a table in McCain's office.
Among the final barriers to a deal, according to officials in both parties, was finding language flexible enough to satisfy Democrats who wanted to say their right to filibuster had been preserved while allowing Republicans to say they could always go back and seek a change.
In the end, the compromise said senators would filibuster future nominees only under extraordinary circumstances.
It added, In light of the spirit and continuing commitments made in this agreement
senators would oppose any change in the filibuster guidelines.
If that was good enough for those around the negotiating table, others divined a lack of clarity.
The jubilation over the deal ... suggests that this is the first time a Band-Aid has been invented
said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.
The agreement was clear enough on the fate of Owen and two other stalled nominees, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor, guaranteeing them a yes-or-no vote on confirmation.
