Bill Frist's Hypocritical and Dishonest Attack on Democracy
/Documents obtained by American Progress show Frist participated in an
effort to block one of Bill Clinton's judicial nominees via filibuster,
then lied about it.
In
recent weeks, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has been relentlessly
preaching about the evils of judicial filibusters. Speaking to the
Federalist Society on November 12, Frist said filibustering judicial
nominees is "radical. It is dangerous and it must be overcome."[1] Frist
called judicial filibusters "nothing less than a formula for tyranny by
the minority." When Bill Clinton was President, however, Frist engaged
in the same behavior he is now condemning.
In
1996 Clinton nominated Judge Richard Paez to the 9th Circuit of the
United States Court of Appeals. Conservatives in Congress held up
Paez's nomination for more than four years, culminating in an attempted
filibuster on March 8, 2000. Bill Frist was among those who voted to
filibuster Paez.[2]
Frist was directly confronted with this vote by Bob Schieffer on Face
the Nation (11/21/04). Schieffer said "Senator, a group called The
American Progress Action Fund sent me a question to ask you. And here's
what it says: ?Senator Frist, if you oppose the use of the filibuster
for judicial nominations, why did you vote to filibuster Judge Richard
Paez when President Clinton nominated him to the 9th Circuit?'"[3]
Frist replied "Filibuster, cloture, it gets confusing--as a scheduling
or to get more information is legitimate. But no to kill nominees."
But
American Progress has obtained a document that proves Frist was not, as
he suggested, voting to filibuster Paez for scheduling purposes or to
get more information. He voted to filibuster Paez for the very reason
he said was illegitimate -- to block Paez's nomination indefinitely.
On
March 9, 2000, Former Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) issued a press release
describing the intent of the Paez filibuster vote the day before. The
release says Senator Smith "built a coalition of several moderate and
conservative Senators in an effort to block" Paez's nomination.[4] Frist
was a part of that coalition. Smith did not organize the filibuster to
get more information on Paez (after all his nomination had been pending
for four years). He organized the filibuster because he had already
decided Paez was "out of the mainstream of political though
and...should [not] be on the court" [Click here to read Smith's press release].
[1] Frist Addresses Federalist Society 2004 National Convention, 11/12/04 [here]
2 Cloture Motion RE: Nom. of Richard Paez to be U.S. Circuit Judge, 3/8/00 [here]
3 Face the Nation, 11/14/04 [here]
4 Smith Leaders Effort to Block Activists Judges, 3/9/00[here]
