ACLJ Launches Nationwide Campaign to End Judicial Filibusters
The American Center for Law and Justice announced Wednesday the launch of its nationwide campaign to urge the Senate to end filibusters for judicial nominees.
The issue is important since at least one vacancy, and as many as four, on the U.S. Supreme Court bench will be available during the next four years. Chief Justice William Rehnquist is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for his thyroid cancer at home. Pro-life groups see the vacancies as an opportunity to elect pro-life justices to the bench to overturn Roe v. Wade. But a filibuster in the Senate could block the President’s judicial nominees from receiving up-or-down votes.
“With the start of a new Congressional session just weeks away, the time to encourage the Senate to change the rule putting an end to the use of judicial filibusters is now,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, in a press release. “With the existing crisis in the federal judiciary – and a possible vacancy on the Supreme Court – the Senate must stand in support of the Constitution and put judicial filibusters off limits.”
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The ACLJ has suggested two options, other than requiring 60 votes in the Senate, to end judicial filibusters in a legal memoranda which the group has provided to Senate leadership and members of the Judiciary Committee.
The first is the “New Congress Option,” which gives Senate the power to set its own procedural rules and at the beginning of the next congressional session. According to the ACLJ, the Senate, with a simple majority vote, can make the necessary changes needed to prohibit filibusters from being used against judicial nominees.
The Senate can also adopt rules for its proceedings free from the constraints imposed under the rules held over from prior Congresses through the second option or the “Constitutional Option.” With this option, reported the ACLJ, the Senate can act at any time during its session and move to change the cloture rule regarding filibusters.
Additionally, the ACLJ has launched the Petition to End Judicial Filibusters for citizens to get involved and will spread the word through direct mail, email, website, its weekly national television program, and its daily radio program, which is heard on nearly 550 radio stations nationwide.
“The American people understand the gravity of this situation and in the weeks ahead we will hear from thousands who want to see an end to judicial filibusters,” said Sekulow.
"The American people understand that the role of the Senate is to provide advice and consent for the President’s judicial nominees,” he concluded. “And, that means permitting every nominee to get an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. We’re confident the Senate will not turn a deaf ear to the many Americans who want to see the judicial filibuster removed.”
