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CFIF Urges Senate to End Judicial Filibusters

"After four years, it's time for the partisan obstruction of judicial confirmations to end."


 


 

 


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2005
Contact: Jeffrey Mazzella
703.535.5836

CFIF Urges Senate to Overcome Obstruction of Judicial Confirmations

Constitutional Advocacy Group Urges Senate Republican Leadership to End Filibusters Against President Bush’s Judicial Nominees Once and For All

Alexandria, VA — The Center for Individual Freedom today joined more than 150 national and state organizations, representing millions of voters across the country, calling on Republican leadership in the Senate to restore the Constitution and more than 200 years of historical precedent by ending filibusters against judicial nominees. 

Center for Individual Freedom President Jeffrey Mazzella joined other grassroots leaders at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce details of the coalition’s letter and pressure Republican leadership to act immediately. 

“After four years, it’s time for the partisan obstruction of judicial confirmations to end,” said Mazzella.  “The Senate has a constitutional obligation to hold up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for all judicial nominees.  These judicial filibusters threaten the independence of the federal judiciary and the delicate system of checks and balances that is the cornerstone of our constitutional republic,” Mazzella added.

“The judicial confirmation process in the Senate is broken,” Mazzella continued.  “And too many Senators from both parties now want to leave the door open for more obstruction. Blocking an up-or-down vote on a judicial nomination is never acceptable, regardless of which party controls the Senate or the White House.”

According to a recent national poll, a whopping 82 percent of voters believe that qualified judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.  And 78 percent feel that all Senators have a constitutional duty to vote on judicial nominees.

“Americans have had enough of the partisan obstruction,” said Mazzella.  “In just the last two weeks, CFIF’s supporters alone have sent more than 100,000 letters to Republican members of the Senate urging them to end the unprecedented judicial filibusters. They join the millions of Americans represented by the groups signing this letter.

“It’s time for the Senate to embrace its traditions, restore its rules, and return to a simple majority vote on judicial nominations as the Constitution mandates,” Mazzella concluded.

The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a non-profit, non-partisan Constitutional and free-market advocacy organization dedicated to protecting individual freedom and rights in the legal, legislative and educational arenas. Through its Confirmation Watch project, the Center has been a leader in pushing the Senate to hold up-or-down votes on judicial nominations.

 


  • To download a copy of the letter, click here.

  • To send a fax to all of the Republican members of the Senate, urging them to end the obstruction, click here.

[Posted April 7, 2005]