Decision ‘08

What Does It Mean…

…that there were 14 more votes for cloture than confirmation? Says Prof. Bainbridge, with an assist from Opus: it means that the Coalition had it right; it was the much-maligned Gang of 14 deal that secured this victory.

I couldn’t agree more…

6 Responses to “What Does It Mean…”

1 too many steves Says:
January 31st, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Is it okay that I take the meaning to be a broad repudiation of Kerry and Kennedy by the members of their own party?
2 Mark Says:
January 31st, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Why, certainly, that’s a quite acceptable alternative interpretation…
3 Fargus Says:
January 31st, 2006 at 3:37 pm
Not correct, and not correct. Mark, are you implying that without the deal, there would have been 7 Republican senators voting against cloture? The 7 Democrats in the Gang of 14 voted for cloture, and so did 13 more, anyway. Without the Gang of 14 there couldn’t be a filibuster, to be sure, but it’s misleading to phrase it as you did in the post, especially because there were 17 more votes for cloture than for confirmation.
4 Mark Says:
January 31st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
No, I am saying that the deal imposed the new ’standard’ of extraordinary circumstances that ensured the well-qualified Alito would be approved. To quote Mickey Kaus:

From the [sic] today’s Alito coverage:

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the only GOP senator who has not said how she would vote on Alito’s nomination, agreed. “I find it regrettable that there are those who are trying to resurrect a filibuster even as there is clearly nothing in the record that constitutes extraordinary circumstances,” she said.

The way Snowe is talking, you’d think “extraordinary circumstances” was a clause written into the Constitution (like “probable cause” or “high crimes and misdemeanors”) instead of a banal fudge-phrase sealing a temporary deal among a few Senators a few months ago. … And why should their deal bind anyone who isn’t a party to it? …

The point of Mickey’s frustration is that even non-Gang members felt their hands were tied by this new standard…
5 too many steves Says:
January 31st, 2006 at 4:24 pm
I like Fargus’ take better because it supports my preferred scenario that the cloture vote was a repudiation of Kerry’s and Kennedy’s cynical filibuster attempt - at least in my head - rather than a simple assertion by the Gang of 14 to enforce the new standard for a filibuster.
6 Fargus Says:
February 1st, 2006 at 9:09 am
I don’t like the take, but it’s true. 25 Democrats voted against cloture, and 41 Democrats voted against Alito. That means 9 more than the 7 from the Gang of 14 voted against cloture.