Judicial Nominations
JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS -- (Senate - May 17, 2005)
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we awoke today to see news of a breakdown in negotiations to end the so-called nuclear confrontation that some Republicans are driving this body toward.
I want to take a minute to thank our leader, Senator Reid, who I believe is really doing his best to preserve the tradition and the precedent of the Senate through good-faith negotiations. He put forth a good-faith compromise proposal only to see it rejected out of hand. This breakdown really marks a sad day for this body.
More than 200 years ago, the Senate was created as part of the Great Compromise, and for the balance of those 200 years, compromise has been central to any and all of the great work that has been completed by the Senate. The rules are set up here to assure that the Senate serves as a center for Government compromise. We have a system of checks and balances, with the Senate checking the President through advice and consent and the President checking the Congress with the use of the veto. And all the while we have an independent judiciary that is empowered to balance out the system. Those checks and balances were put in place for a reason. They promote compromise, they promote preservation of minority rights, and they ensure that our system of government works for all of the people. Unfortunately, the goal of some becomes clearer each passing day in this body that they are not interested in compromise on the so-called nuclear option. If this Senate does remove the last check in Washington against an abuse of power, the majority will be able to appoint to lifetime seats on the Supreme Court and the Federal bench anyone they want.
The American people have rejected court packing before and I believe they will again. We are united against the abuse of power known as this nuclear option. We believe that Senators were sent here to serve all Americans, not to promote political agendas of one faction. Mr. President, Democrats will join responsible Republicans to fight this abuse of power and get back to the real work of the American people.
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