Sen. Jim DeMint, the Republican from South Carolina, doesn’t just have a problem with the idea of a gay president. He can’t stand the thought of a gay judge, either.
And not even a Supreme Court one at that!
DeMint is being credited with holding up the Senate confirmation of Marisa Demeo, the lesbian magistrate judge in D.C. who Obama nominated, last May, to the D.C. Superior Court. But thanks to Demeo’s “history of very leftist activism,” DeMint — who in 2004 campaigned in part on his disdain for gays teaching school children — isn’t so thrilled to put her nomination to a vote, helping make Demeo the most-stalled Obama nominee yet.
And what leftist activism is DeMint afraid of? Oh, just her being a member of radical fringe groups including the the Human Rights Campaign *shudder* and and GAYLAW *gasp*.
How about we take this to the next level?
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So what are Democrats to do about Demeo and the 21 other judicial nominees not yet getting a Senate vote? They’re holding up confirmation of conservative nominee Stuart Nash. Tit for tat.
J. Clarence
This back and forth of either party holding up the nomination of any supreme court nominee is not serving anyone. Filibustering or putting a hold on a nominee is suppose to be a serious political decision, not just the way members of the Senate say “You suck, Democrat/Republican”.
What Democrats need to do is rather than respond with another filibuster or hold put the spotlight on DeMint and his abuse of Senate privileges. They should also as a party get behind reforming the Senate rules to put an end to this childish behavior. The general rule of the Senate should be “you abuse, you loose it.”
Steve
This nonsense about requiring 60 votes to end debate is just silly. If 40 senators want to continue debate, they should be required to continue debate, continuously, until the debate is done. That is, all 40 senators must remain on the floor, and awake, for the entire time.
This nonsense of giving each and every senator a veto over every appointment is even sillier.
Those rules might have seemed reasonable at some point in history, when Senators were willing to be responsible and tried to be reasonable and collegial. But, that age seems to have passed, along with horses and carriages.