According to The Hill, Senator Ricky, the emissary to the wing nuts, assured them that Bill Frist will invoke the nuclear option on judges:
Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, has reassured conservative activist leaders that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is committed to triggering the “nuclear option,” stripping Democrats of the power to filibuster judicial nominees.This debate is coming. And it needs to be framed around Senator Lautenberg's floor statement yesterday when he blasted John Cornyn:
Santorum met the leaders Tuesday to dispel growing anxiety among conservatives that Frist was wavering over what some Republicans call the “constitutional” or “Byrd” option — a procedural tactic that would disallow judicial filibusters by a ruling of the Senate chair and a ratifying majority vote.
These remarks are almost unbelievable.
Yet they echo the words last week of the House Majority Leader.
Speaking of the judges in the Schiavo case, the House Majority Leader said, “The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."
These are inflammatory words.
They ignore the fact that our Founding Fathers wanted judges to be insulated from political pressure.
And they are words that could easily incite violence against judges.
