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.
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