Mr. Speaker, 36 years ago, Republican Senator Howard Baker took to the Senate floor during a Republican-led filibuster of Abe Fortas, President Johnson's nominee to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Senator Baker justified the Republican filibuster by stating, ``On any issue the majority, at any given moment, is not always right.''
Some people might be surprised that Senate Republicans led a filibuster against a judicial nominee. After all, Senator Frist continues to claim all judicial appointees are entitled to an up-or-down vote, no matter what. It is a disingenuous statement when he himself and other proponents of this extreme measure have used the filibuster to delay and defeat judicial nominations of the past. It is a hypocritical statement when the Republican majority in the Senate derailed and defeated 65 of President Clinton's judicial nominations without ever permitting them a vote or even a hearing, not a vote in committee, not a vote on the floor.
And now that the Republicans are in the majority and have a President, they want to prevent Democrats from taking the very same actions they have used. They are now trying to change the rules of the Senate in the middle of the game to try to take away the rights of the minority.
Senator Baker was correct in 1968 when he said the majority was not always right, and it is time Senate Republicans realize that their extreme power grab is not in the best interests of either this Congress or this Nation.