Obstruction or hope

[undeterred]

Obstruction or hope

By Bill Kaplan (WisOpinion)

Since 2009 the GOP Senate minority has used the filibuster in an unprecedented manner to paralyze the Senate. The filibuster or threat of one has been used by the GOP against cabinet nominees, judicial nominees, political appointees and legislation. Nothing gets done unless there are 60 votes - cloture. Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson is one of the leading obstructionists. He used his first speech on the Senate floor to rail against the cloture vote. It was his way or the highway. And, he was prepared to use any Senate rules to stop the Senate in its tracks. And, he was successful. Case in point, law professor Victoria Nourse.

Nourse had taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School since 1994, when she was nominated to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Obama in 2010. She had served in the federal executive and legislative branches under Republicans and Democrats. And, Nourse had received the highest grade for a judicial nominee from the American Bar Association. Moreover, she had strong support from the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission (a merit-based selection system). But Nourse never got a Senate hearing. Senator Johnson later put a "hold" on Nourse, a one-man-filibuster. Johnson never bothered to meet with Nourse. If he had bestirred himself he would have learned that Nourse was respected by other Senate Republicans. And, Johnson would have been surprised that Nourse is related to the late GOP Representative Edith Nourse Rogers (MA), an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. Instead he killed her nomination.

Johnson thought he could do the same with commonsense expanded background checks on purchasers of guns, to weed out criminals and the mentally ill. Johnson proclaimed that he would filibuster even a debate. Paralysis. But 16 other Republicans and most Democrats, including Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, overruled Johnson. So the debate has begun. 4 GOP Senate members have said they will support expanded background checks. Hope. There's more.

Senator Baldwin said: "There is broad support in Wisconsin for expanding universal background checks to all gun sales and giving law enforcement additional tools to crack down on both gun traffickers and the straw purchasers who help get guns into the hands of criminals." Baldwin also emphasized more help for the mentally ill and school safety. Perhaps her colleagues will be righteous. Finally, Wisconsin GOP Representative James Sensenbrenner could be helpful in the House. He supported background checks in the 1990s. The nation is watching. Hope springs eternal.

-- Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C. for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 - 2009.

http://www.wisopinion.com/index.iml?mdl=article.mdl&article=48806

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