Sen. Harry Reid

by Jeremy Leaming

The momentum for serious reform to the filibuster picked up steam last year after Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) expressed great frustration over Republicans abuse of the legislative tool. Reid had faced nearly 400 filibusters since leading the Senate and admitted he was slow to embrace filibuster reform. Reid claimed he was finally ready to support serious reform proposals championed by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.).

But it now appears Reid is ready to suffer ongoing Republican obstructionism in the Senate. TPM’s Sahil Kapur reports that Reid is nearing a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) “to enact minor changes to the filibuster.”

The deal, Kapur reports would make “very modest changes,” such as permitting the “majority to bypass a filibuster on the motion to proceed to debate – if a group of senators on each side agree or if there’s a guarantee that both sides will bet to offer amendments ….”

According to Kapur, however, the only “meaningful upside” of the agreement centers on nominations – apparently part of the deal would include “an expedited process for some nominations ….”

The filibuster has been used to scuttle dozens of judicial nominations, which have helped lead to a high vacancy rate on the federal bench. The filibuster, however, has also been used to shut down consideration of an array of progressive measures, such as ones addressing pay inequity, immigration reform and climate change.

In a Jan. 21 editorial, The New York Times raised concerns that on the cusp “an opportunity to end much of this delay and abuse, Democrats are instead considering only a few half-measures.” The Times highlighted reform proposals advanced by Merkley and Udall, which would require senators to take action to mount and sustain a filibuster. It would require senators bent on slowing consideration of legislation or nominations to actually announce their reason for doing so, and then continue explaining those reasons. As the newspaper noted the proposal would kill the “current practice of routinely requiring a 60-vote majority for a bill through a silent objection ….”

by Jeremy Leaming

While lawmakers in Washington are consumed with reaching a budget deal, avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff, the president -- also engaged in the budget battle -- is nonetheless moving ahead on other fronts, such as trying to fill vacancies on the federal bench, which spiked during his first term largely because of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s obstructionist ways.

The president is also continuing his efforts to diversify a bench that is still dominated by white men. Among the president’s recent nominations is Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. If confirmed she would be the “first openly gay Hispanic woman to serve on the bench,” LGBTQ Nation reports. The president’s efforts to create a more representative federal bench contrasts with House Republican leaders who were unable or unwilling to select a woman for the chamber’s major committees, instead,  as noted by The Huffington Post’s Jennifer Bendery, all the new committee chairs are white men.

People For the American Way’s Marge Baker lauded Obama’s judicial selections, saying they “are emblematic of the president’s commitment to nominating qualified, diverse nominees to the federal bench.”

It appears, however, that Republican leaders in the Senate, for the most part, are not in any rush to fill the vacancies, even though 34 of them are deemed judicial emergencies, meaning the courts are overworked, understaffed. With too many vacancies and overworked judges it makes it incredibly difficult for the justice system to function.

But more than 23 national public interest groups are urging Senate leaders to stop dawdling on judicial nominations. In a Nov. 27 letter to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader McConnell, the groups say that 19 pending nominations should be voted on before the next Congress.