Sen. Robert Byrd Will Address Rally on Bush Judicial Nominees
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) will be the keynote speaker at a March 16 rally condemning President Bush's "far-right corporate judicial nominees," a liberal advocacy group announced on Monday.


The battle over judicial nominees is reaching critical mass, said MoveOn.org's political action committee. The group strongly opposes to a Senate rule change that would allow Republicans to break the logjam over Bush's judicial nominees.


Press reports say Republicans may have enough votes to change Senate rules, and that has Democrats very worried - and threatening more obstruction.


Byrd, as a senior senator and the chamber's reputed historian, has blasted the idea of changing Senate rules for the sake of judicial appoints. But as CNSNews.com previously reported, Byrd - in years past - has said the majority party has the right to make Senate rules.


Byrd -- in remarks on Jan. 15, 1979 -- said, "This Congress is not obliged to be bound by the dead hand of the past."


Byrd noted that the first Senate, meeting in 1789, approved 19 rules by a majority vote and that those rules "have been changed from time to time." Byrd said Members of the Senate in 1789 "did not for one moment think, or believe, or pretend, that all succeeding Senates would be bound by that Senate."


According to staffers in Sen. John Cornyn's office, Sen. Byrd "led the charge to establish new Senate precedents in 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1987 -- including a number of precedents that were designed specifically to stop filibusters..."


Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution states that "[e]ach House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings."


Press reports on Tuesday said even some Republicans - Sen. Mitch McConnell, for one - are worried about changing Senate rules when there is no public outcry to do so.


But Wednesday's rally is seen as an outcry by Democrats: "We've got to show Democratic and Republican senators that this is a grassroots issue," MoveOn PAC said in a press release.


"That's why we're holding a big rally this Wednesday, March 16th, and that's why we want you to come. Our keynote speaker will be Senator Robert Byrd, whose outspoken opposition to the Iraq war inspired many of us and who will be one of the main voices in this fight to protect the courts. The national press will be watching, and together we can show them that real people are ready to fight hard for fair judges-that we're not going to let it slip through as an insider issue."


MoveOn PAC's "Rally for Fair Judges" will take place on Wednesday in a Washington hotel near Capitol Hill.



See Earlier Stories:

Republican Corrects the Record on Judicial Nominees (16 Feb. 2005)

Same Old Story on Judicial Nominees -- for Now (2 March 2005)



[hey hey hey,BRING IT ON!,jco]

dems say they will shut down government as a protest. I hope they do. When the funding stops coming the Republicans can all point the finger and ask the dems to address it. I don't think that will play too well in the press. And then in a year when they lose even more seats the Republicans can pass any judge they want.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

Wonder if "Sheets" Byrd will be sporting his hood????

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

gp5 wrote Well he once made the Son's of the Confederacy real proud..... too bad West Virginia split from Virginia ...... sic!!!!

hey the clan was once popular in West Virginia, Southern Ohio, Southern Indiana, and Southern Illinois, the coal mining and farm belt....

It was a product of fear and ignorance. It was wrong. Some people like Byrd admitted they were once wrong and moved on.

It's like a reformed drunk. Some eventually admit that they were wrong, once. They move on, ( oops no pun intended).

Now that's the best thing that could happen.
At least drunks didn't advocate lynching. Well drunk Klansmen did I suppose...

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Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine

That's okay, f100......you go ahead and defend him.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Yeah, drinking too much, vs. tormenting, belittling, and oppressing black people... it's all the same so long as you've "moved on."

It is hysterical watching liberals try and defend former Klansmen.

"Some people like Byrd admitted they were once wrong and moved on."

Do you have a link f100? not disputing but I have NEVER seen this apology i have heard so much about... and did this apology come before or after his N-word comment on TV?

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I was banned from godlike productions... and loved it.

Sinanju asked [quote][Do you have a link f100? not disputing but I have NEVER seen this apology i have heard so much about... and did this apology come before or after his N-word comment on TV? /quote]

I don't have a link handy right now. If the NCAA'S get boring later on today I may look for one. I base my remarks on a recollection of the Byrd saying that he was wrong.

Now his latest N WORD fling; was that an example he was giving? I honestly do not remember.


I do not defend KLANSMAN. I being a foreign born American would not be a favorite of Klansman. I am just trying to put all of this in perspective.