Senators gird for battle over judges, filibuster

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Owen, Brown called extremists
Democrats have a different view, arguing that she is an ultraconservative activist who uses the bench to rule against consumers, working people and minors who want abortions.

Brown, the 54-year-old daughter of an Alabama sharecropper, was nominated by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson as the first black woman to sit on the California Supreme Court. Regarded as one of the most conservative of the bench’s seven members, she also is prolific, authoring more opinions and dissents last term than any other.

But a Democratic review of her record depicts her as “bringing her extreme ideological agenda to the bench.”

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Frist made no mention of five other nominees whom Democrats have blocked.

One senior Republican aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, outlined a complicated scenario likely to play out over as much as a week or two.

Initially, this aide said, Frist will inaugurate a lengthy period of debate over Owen and Brown without seeking a confirmation vote. After perhaps a few days, he intends to seek a test vote on one of the two women that Republicans hope will demonstrate majority support.

If Democrats then refuse to allow a final yes or no vote, this aide said Frist is prepared to seek a parliamentary ruling to establish a new procedure to cover confirmation of all appeals court and Supreme Court nominees — a fixed amount of time for debate followed by a vote, no filibuster permitted.

Frist concedes to constitutional point
The fate of that proposal will determine which side prevails — whether Bush’s nominees will be guaranteed a yes or no vote, or whether Democrats will retain the right to block them.

“Members must decide if their legacy to the Senate is to eliminate the filibuster’s barrier to the constitutional responsibility of all senators to advise and consent with fair, up-or-down votes,” Frist’s statement said.

Democrats dispute the contention that the Constitution requires a yes-or-no vote, and Frist himself conceded the point on the Senate floor on Thursday in an exchange with Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.

“The answer is no, the language is not there,” he said.

Moreover, Reid said in his statement that if there were such a requirement, “more than 60 of President Clinton’s nominees had their rights violated.” He referred to dozens of nominations that Clinton sent to the GOP-controlled Senate over six years, only to have them disappear into the Judiciary Committee and never emerge.

NBC's Ken Strickland and Chip Reid and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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