VOLUME No: 67 Issue No:1

Washington, D.C. - Nov 12, 2004

President Bush Names Alberto Gonzales Attorney General

President George Bush named White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the successor to former Attorney General John Ashcroft this week. The decision came the day after Ashcroft officially resigned from his post. The Senate is expected to confirm Gonzales without any problems. Pending confirmation, Gonzales will be the first Hispanic to serve as Attorney General in United States history.

Full details and reactionary statements can be found here:
http://www.islamicinstitute.org/fb-2004/att-genapoint.asp

Specter in the Hot Seat

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has come under fire from Republicans for his post-election comments about Roe v. Wade and is now in danger of losing the chair for the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter had hoped to succeed term-limited Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) but since his announcement that judicial nominees who oppose abortion rights may have a hard time getting confirmed, over 20 pro-life conservative groups and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have turned against the Senator. Despite a quick retraction of the statement Specter is still being targeted, revealing a schism in the Republican Party’s base and the importance of the judiciary conferment for Republicans.

The controversy is being closely monitored by Republican leadership because of its implications for the 2008 election. Specter’s junior colleague, Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), is thought to be a leading contender for the Republican ballot in the next Presidential election but received criticism from Specter’s detractors because he helped re-nominated Specter over conservative challenger Rep. Pat Toomey in the last election. Tort reform advocates are also criticizing Specter because a large proportion of donations to his campaign were from lawyers and his son is a prominent Philadelphia-based trial lawyer.

Filibustering Exasperates a Fretting Frist

Upset over the Democrats’ successful attempts to block the confirmation of federal circuit court judges in the first Bush administration, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) threatened to change the Senate rules to stop the use of the filibuster. Although over 200 Bush nominees were confirmed in the last administration, Democrats were successful in blocking 10 appointments. Republican’s are worried that these tactics could spill over into the appointment of new Supreme Court justices. There is expected to be at least one appointment in the next year.

The filibuster is the use of delayed or extended speech making in the Senate to block a vote from taking place. There is no measure in the Senate rules for a motion to force a vote but If Frist were to change the rules he would need a two-thirds majority (or 67 votes) to end the filibuster. The vote would most likely be unsuccessful, however, because the measure, which would be debated on the Senate floor, could ironically be filibuster to death by Democrats. Another option for Republicans is the so-called “nuclear option” resurrected by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). This Republican proposal would make confirmations exempt from the use of the filibuster by getting the parliamentarian to say a simple majority is required for confirmation. Currently a two-thirds majority is required.

Kerry and Democrats Lick Post-Election Wounds

House and Senate Democrats regrouped on Capital Hill this week in the first strategy session of Democratic leaders since the election. Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) met with incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to discuss tactics for combating the Republican agenda for the 109th Congress and reorienting the party without former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle or control in Congress and the White House. Energy legislation, class-action reform and a same-sex-marriage constitutional amendment are in line for the upcoming lame-duck session and will present the new Senate Democratic leadership with difficult tactical dilemmas.

Democrats have taken Daschle’s departure from political office to heart and are reexamining Daschle’s confrontation approach to the Republican majority’s program. Reid will have to decide whether to directly oppose Republican legislation or engage in bipartisan lawmaking with Republican leaders in the next Congress. The polarization of the last election could make this decision difficult. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who will serve behind Reid as party whip, disagrees with the President’s self-declared “mandate” citing that a popular vote of 51%-48% does not qualify as a landslide. In a Senate that is 55-44 in favor of the Republicans, however, partisan solidarity for the Democrats could amount to ineffective opposition in Congress and further gains for Republicans in 2006.