Fox News Network The Big Story with John Gibson - Transcript

November 12, 2003 Wednesday

HEADLINE: Interview with Senate Majority Whip Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KT); Interview with "The New York Times'" Nicholas Kristof

GUESTS: Mitch McConnell, Nicholas Kristof

BODY:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about four jobs when we ought to be talking about three million jobs.

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NAPOLITANO: There's going to be lot of talk about those four federal judgeships on the Senate floor tonight, and tomorrow and tomorrow night. Instead of saving his voice right now, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell joins me from Capitol Hill to talk about the filibuster scheduled to start in about 40 minutes. So, Senator McConnell, today's big question, what is at stake over the next 30 hours on Capitol Hill?

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KT) SENATOR MAJORITY WHIP: Well, what we're trying to do, Judge, is bring to the public's attention the fact that circuit court judges are being filibustered for the first time in 220-some- odd-year history of the United States. That's never happened before. And so, we're having this all-night session in order to call to the attention of the public the fact that this unprecedented obstructionism is going on. Most people think that in the world's oldest democracy if you can get a majority you are entitled to move ahead. Only in the United States Senate has it now been imposed that you need have to get a super majority in order to become a federal circuit judge.

NAPOLITANO: We all know the basic facts. It takes 51 votes to be confirmed as a judge, but if one side is filibustering it takes 60 votes to break the filibuster.

MCCONNELL: Right.

NAPOLITANO: The Republicans as I understand it and some Democrats have enough votes together to pass on all these nominees, but they cannot get the nominees to the floor because the Democrats, what, won't stop talking?

MCCONNELL: Well, they won't allow us-we've had a number of different what's called closures votes, that is trying to get 60, which would shut off the debate. We have failed on a number of closure votes on several of these judges. We are going to have three more closure votes on Friday. My suspicion, Judge, is that we will be denied closure once again.

NAPOLITANO: All right, here is what I don't understand. Usually the party doing the filibustering is the party that wants to stop something from happening, not the party that wants to cause something to happen. Here it's the Democrats that want to stop the vote. It's the Democrats that want to filibuster against men, women, African-American, Latino. It's the Democrats who are obstructing. Why don't the Republicans let the Democrats conduct the filibuster. They're the ones that are talking the Senate into stopping its business?

MCCONNELL: Because under our rules if you have an extended session like this, all the pressure is really on us. All the Democrats have to do is to have one person on the floor. And if they think we don't have a quorum, suggest the absence of quorum, none of their members would have to get out of bed to come in. All the pressure would be on us to be here all the time. And we have 51 Republican senators, which is all of our senators, who are going to be here around the clock, in case they do suggest the absence of a quorum. All of this is kind of legislative mumbo jumbo to your viewers.

The reason they are the ones filibustering is because we have tried on numerous occasions to get closure, that is 60 votes to stop-to stop the filibuster and get to an up or down vote. They have denied closure on four different judges. There are seven more that they plan to do this to. It's never been done before in history. They say it's only four times. That's four more than has ever happened in the whole history of the United States.

NAPOLITANO: All right, just to be fair, didn't the Republicans filibuster President Johnson's nomination to elevate associate justice Abe Fortas to the chief justiceship back in 1965, and as a result, Abe Fordyce withdrew his nomination and resigned from the court?

MCCONNELL: What happened was that there was a bipartisan filibuster there. There was opposition on both sides to the Fordyce nomination and he did subsequently withdraw. There has been an occasional closure vote on circuit judges over the years, but, judge, it's been to advance the nomination, not to stop it. There's been situations where you had just a few Senators who objected. And so you were trying to move the nomination forward not kill it. This is the first time in history that these judges have been killed.

NAPOLITANO: One last question before I let you go, how will we know who wins tonight?

MCCONNELL: What we're trying to do is to educate the American people as to what's been going on here. At the end of the day, the Democrats are likely to continue to prevent an up or down or a majority vote on our nominees. So you can call that a victory. We think that the voters ought to take this into account next November in deciding who they want to send to the United States Senate.

NAPOLITANO: All right, Senator Mitch McConnell, you have a long night ahead of you, my advice, drink a lot of espresso. Thanks for joining us.

MCCONNELL: Thank you, Judge.

NAPOLITANO: Your welcome.

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