Reply #5: Specter leery of filibuster ban threat

[DoYouEverWonder]

Friday, February 25, 2005

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter cautioned fellow Republicans Thursday against employing the "nuclear option" for judicial nominees that would deprive Democrats of long-standing parliamentary tools to block Senate action.

Specter, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, said using such an unusual tactic against the Democratic minority would ultimately produce a Senate "in turmoil." The Judiciary Committee, he said, "will be hell" in a Congress already teeming with political partisanship.

"If we have a 'nuclear option,'... we can take an extended foreign trip, all of us," Specter said.

The phrase "nuclear option" refers to the Republican majority changing the rules of the Senate so the Democratic minority could not filibuster judicial nominations, thereby forcing an up-or-down floor vote on every nominee. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has threatened to pursue this option.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/2005/02/25/a8a_judges_0225.html