Frist Seeks Christian Support
to Stop Filibusters
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK | The New York Times | April 24, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 24 - In a Sunday telecast organized
by Christian conservative groups to denounce the Democrats as "against people
of faith" for blocking judicial nominees, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee
stepped up his threats to change Senate rules to circumvent those blockades while
simultaneously calling for "more civility in political life."
In a short videotaped statement included in the telecast, which was called Justice
Sunday and emanated from a packed Baptist mega-church here, Dr. Frist, the Senate
majority leader, neither referred to religious faith nor addressed criticism that
the event was inappropriately dragging religion into a partisan battle.
Instead, he focused on accusations by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic
leader, that Dr. Frist was a "radical Republican" for participating
in the telecast, which aimed to build conservative Christian support for his threat
to eliminate the filibuster of presidential nominees - a parliamentary tactic
that allows at least 41 senators to reject a nominee by indefinitely forestalling
a vote. Democrats, who hold 44 Senate seats, have vowed to virtually shut down
Senate business if Dr. Frist follows through.
"I don't think it's radical to ask senators to vote," Dr. Frist said.
"Now if Senator Reid continues to obstruct the process, we will consider
what opponents call the 'nuclear option.' Only in the United States Senate could
it be considered a devastating option to allow a vote. Most places call that democracy."
About 2,000 people packed into the Highview Baptist Church here for the telecast,
and organizers said it was broadcast to several hundred churches by satellite,
thousands of people over the Internet and 61 million households over Christian
radio and television stations.
Liberal groups, meanwhile, stepped up their attacks on both Dr. Frist and the
proposed rule change. About 1,200 liberal Christians gathered at a rally at a
Presbyterian church here to protest what one speaker, the left-leaning evangelical
Jim Wallis, called "a declaration of a religious war" and "an attempt
to hijack religion."
Separately, MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, said it was paying $700,000
for television commercials attacking the rule change, including some depicting
a herd of Republican elephants trampling Congress. Its organizers said they would
hold 120 rallies around the country on Wednesday, including one in Washington
with a speech by former Vice President Al Gore. Mr. Gore's participation "elevates
the fight beyond D.C.," said Ben Brandzel of MoveOn.org.
Marking a new stage in the confrontation, Dr. Frist singled out Judge Priscilla
Owen, one of the blocked appeals court nominees, for praise in the telecast. The
comments were a sign that Republicans have picked her to put forward for a vote
to test the will of Democrats.
As the arguments on both sides heated up, senators scrambled to position themselves
on middle ground. In the same telecast, Dr. Frist repudiated the comments of some
in his party, including the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, about punishing
judges whose rulings they consider out of line.
"When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values,
we will say so," he said. "But we must also be clear that the balance
of power among all three branches requires respect - not retaliation. I won't
go along with that."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and an organizer of the
telecast, declared at the outset, "We are not saying that people who disagree
with us are not people of faith." Democrats, he argued, were forcing members
of the judiciary to choose between public service and their conservative Christian
views by denying them judgeships because of their stance on abortion or other
social issues.
Other speakers in the telecast, however, took a different view from Dr. Frist.
Dr. James Dobson, founder of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family,
whose political sister group was a sponsor of the event, defended Mr. DeLay and
his attacks on the judiciary, calling the Supreme Court "unaccountable,"
"out of control," and a despotic oligarchy.
Dr. Dobson accused the justices of "a campaign to limit religious liberty"
through 40 years of decisions limiting publicly supported expressions of religion.
The founding fathers, he said, intended for the president and Congress to "check
the judiciary and it hasn't done it," he said.
"You have a court that is out of control," Dr. Dobson said.
One Republican senator, however, distanced himself from the telecast as well as
the attacks on the judiciary. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina,
who supports changing the confirmation process, said in an interview on "Fox
News Sunday" that the groups behind the telecast should "not to go down
the road of saying that the Democratic senators are not people of faith or questioning
their religious - that they're religious bigots."
"I don't think that helps the country," he said, "and I don't think
that's fair."
Senate aides say they expect any confrontation to be postponed past the May recess
next week. Dr. Frist has said he intends to offer a compromise, although it would
still entail approving the blocked judges.
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary
Committee, said Sunday that he was urging colleagues to look beyond party loyalty
to resolve the impasse. "I think it is really necessary for Democrats not
to follow a straight party line on voting for filibusters and Republicans not
to follow a straight party line on voting for the so-called constitutional nuclear
option," he said on CNN. "I think, if we voted our consciences, we wouldn't
have filibusters, and we wouldn't have a nuclear option."
On the other side of the aisle, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware,
suggested that the parties might break their deadlock if Democrats agreed to confirm
some of the blocked judges and Republicans agreed to drop the rest. "We'll
let a number of them go through, the two most extreme not go through and put off
this vote and compromise," Mr. Biden said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos
on ABC. "The filibuster has always been available to stop extremes."
Still, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican whip responsible for
counting the votes of party members, said that enough Republicans would back the
rule change to make it happen, which would require at least 50 of the 55 Republican
senators. "That step will be taken sometime in the near future at the determination
of the majority leader," he said in an interview on CBS. "We have the
votes we need."--------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 The New York Times
Battle Over Benches Spills Across Pews
Evangelical leaders use a simulcast to churches around the country
to support conservative judges. Other groups fear a 'religious war.'
By Peter Wallsten | New York Times | April 25, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Partisan battles over the courts moved Sunday from the
halls of Congress to the pews and pulpits of the nation's churches — with
evangelical leaders portraying opponents of conservative judges as enemies of
faith and liberals decrying a "religious war" being waged against them.
In highly anticipated remarks aired as part of a 90-minute simulcast to conservative
churches — which sponsors said would reach more than 60 million people —
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist shied away from the fiery oratory offered by
evangelical leaders.
But the Tennessee Republican threatened again to change Senate rules to curb the
Democrats' ability to block votes on 10 of President Bush's court nominees. The
move is so controversial that some refer to it as the "nuclear option."
And activists on both sides declared Sunday's event, "Justice Sunday: Stop
the Filibuster Against People of Faith," a watershed moment in an increasingly
emotional conflict that is as much about the mixing of God and government as it
is about who can serve on the federal bench.
"Only in the United States Senate could it be considered a devastating option
to allow a vote," Frist said in a six-minute speech taped Friday. "Most
places call that democracy."
The simulcast was sponsored by the lobbying arms of the socially conservative
advocacy groups Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. It originated
from the sanctuary of the 6,000-member Highview Baptist Church on Louisville's
fast-growing east side, an example of the evangelical mega-churches that have
become central to Republican efforts to expand the party's base by courting Christians
and other deeply religious voters.
The event marked the most dramatic show of force by evangelical leaders since
the 2004 elections, when religious conservatives helped fuel Bush's reelection
and expand the GOP majority in Congress.
Last month, the death of Terri Schiavo — the brain-damaged Florida woman
whose feeding tube was removed after a lengthy court battle despite efforts by
Bush and the Republican-led Congress — put the spotlight on the judiciary.
Evangelical leaders, angered by rulings on abortion and gay marriage as well as
the Schiavo case, have set their sights on transforming courts they view as stacked
against religion. They also are seeking to weaken what they call the "secular
left," which they say targets people with religious beliefs from reaching
the bench.
That was the dominant theme Sunday night, as some of the nation's most prominent
evangelical leaders spoke from a church pulpit adorned with 4-foot-tall portraits
of five judicial nominees being blocked by Democratic senators.
"Just because we believe the in the Bible as a guidepost for life does not
disqualify us from participating in our government," said Tony Perkins, president
of the Family Research Council. "As American citizens, we should not have
to choose between believing what is in this book and serving the public."
One of the stars of the evening was Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. of Mississippi,
whose nomination to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was blocked by Democrats
after it was revealed that he secretly had pressed prosecutors to allow a lesser
sentence for a white man who led a cross-burning at a black couple's home. Circumventing
the confirmation process, Bush appointed Pickering to the bench during a congressional
recess.
In a videotape shown during the event, Pickering, who also appeared in person,
defended his civil rights record. He noted that he had testified against a Ku
Klux Klan member at the height of the civil rights movement, and had sent his
own children to newly integrated schools.
"The real reason they were opposing me was abortion," Pickering said
in the video. Asked by Perkins if a Christian could realistically aspire to the
bench, Pickering concluded: "If Christians don't stand up and don't participate,
I cringe about the future."
James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, on Sunday did not spare lawmakers
he called "squishy Republicans." Images of Sens. John McCain of Arizona,
Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were placed on screens,
along with their office numbers.
The Republicans hold 55 seats in the Senate, but several GOP members have said
they were wary of veering from the Senate tradition of filibusters. Frist has
proposed changing the rules to end debate over judicial nominees by a simple majority
of 51 votes, rather than the 60 now needed to avoid a filibuster.
"Republicans are really good at trembling," Dobson told members of the
audience. "Get a hold of them and tell them that you care and you will remember
how you vote."
Across town, critics of Justice Sunday gathered at a Presbyterian church to assail
what they said was an inappropriate infusion of religion into the debate over
judges.
Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical who edits the magazine Sojourners, said that
the religious conservatives' stance favoring one party and one position on judges
"borders on idolatry."
"When they say that people who disagree with their views and their strategy
are not people of faith, they've crossed a line," Wallis said. "When
they use faith as a weapon, as a wedge, it feels like instigation of a religious
war. And the creation of a Republican theocracy."
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the activist group Americans United for Separation
of Church and State, said Justice Sunday marked a turning point. "This is
the closest thing to a civil war within the religious community that I've seen
in the past 25 years," Lynn said.
Indeed, inside the semi-circle sanctuary at Highview Baptist Church, the rhetoric
was fiery.
William Donahue, president of the Catholic League, said he had more in common
ideologically with evangelical Protestants and Orthodox Jews than with fellow
Catholics such as Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.),
who support abortion rights.
"We will not be told to shut up and give it over to the secular left,"
Donahue said. "They claim to be the high priests of tolerance, and yet they
practice intolerance against us."
Dobson went after the Supreme Court on issues such as prayer in school, abortion
and anti-sodomy laws. The justices, he said, were "unelected and unaccountable
and arrogant and imperious and determined to redesign the culture according to
their own biases and values — and they're out of control."
Frist, who has been criticized by Democrats for using the battle over judgeships
to curry favor with the GOP base for a potential 2008 presidential bid, took a
more moderate approach in his taped remarks.
"When we think judicial decisions are outside mainstream American values
… we will say so," he said. "But we must also be clear that the
balance of power among all three branches [of government] requires respect."
Appearing Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition," Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.),
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that fellow Republicans "ought
not to vote for the nuclear option as a matter of party loyalty, and the Democrats
ought not to be voting in lock step on filibusters as a matter of party loyalty."
He suggested that it was time that lawmakers "voted our consciences"
on judicial nominations.
---------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
Frist Initiative Creates Rift in GOP Base
By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten | Los Angeles Times | April 24, 2005
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will draw a chorus of amens
tonight when thousands of evangelicals across the nation hear his call to put
more conservative judges on the federal bench.
But even as the Tennessee Republican addresses "Justice Sunday" —
a 90-minute simulcast to conservative churches that enthusiastically backs a Senate
rule change to speed judicial confirmations — the leader faces apprehension
from another key GOP constituency.
The country's leading business lobbying associations, close GOP allies in recent
legislative efforts and political campaigns, have told senior Republicans that
they would not back the Frist initiative to force votes on President Bush's judicial
nominees.
Business leaders say they fear the move would lead to a shutdown of Senate action
on long-awaited priorities — as Democrats have threatened if Frist moves
ahead with a rule change that they say would drastically alter the traditions
of a body designed to respect the rights of the minority party.
"If we do that, then all else is going to stop," Thomas J. Donohue,
head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said during a meeting with reporters Friday.
He then reeled off a list of business priorities that could be delayed for months
in the resulting partisan uproar. He expressed the same concerns directly to Frist's
office in recent days.
The lack of support from business presents a dilemma for Frist, who wants to build
ties with the Republican base ahead of his likely 2008 presidential bid but now
must balance competing demands from two pillars of Republican politics: evangelicals,
who can marshal millions of voters, and businesses, which donate millions of dollars.
Both groups played pivotal roles in securing Bush's reelection last year and expanding
the GOP majority in Congress — and both have made clear that they expect
to be rewarded.
But though business groups can already point to several victories — such
as passage of laws on class action lawsuits and bankruptcy — evangelicals
look to the judicial fight as the signal moment to exert newfound influence.
Party officials concede that the tension between business leaders and social conservatives
could foreshadow problems for Republican candidates in 2006 and 2008 who, like
Bush, will rely on an energized and unified base to win closely fought contests.
"Every day that this does not get resolved there could be increased tension
or pressure put on the situation," said one GOP strategist, who requested
anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the rift. "Depending on how artfully
or inartfully this is resolved, there is some fence-mending that needs to be done."
The business leaders' consternation stands in contrast with the fervor among evangelicals,
who are pressuring Frist and the Republicans to move swiftly on judges no matter
what the consequences.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, the group sponsoring "Justice
Sunday," drew applause during a recent private meeting of activists by mentioning
the potential for a Senate shutdown.
"That might be the best thing," said Perkins, according to an audio
recording of the March meeting provided by the advocacy group Americans United
for Separation of Church and State.
"As I've sat in this city, been here in this city, you know, gridlock is
not a bad thing," he said. "Rarely do they do things for us. Usually
it's against us."
Evangelicals view Frist's appearance on tonight's telecast as a sign of their
pending victory. The leader's remarks, taped Friday, will be beamed to more than
90 churches and over Christian radio and television networks as part of a program
that will include speeches by Perkins and James C. Dobson, founder of the conservative
Christian group Focus on the Family.
"For four years [GOP leaders] did nothing. They hardly even talked about
the things that matter to us," Dobson said at the March activists' meeting.
"Now we've come out to vote for them, and they need to get on with it."
The evangelical leaders have expressed frustration with delays in seeing the judicial
issue pressed. Frist and his staff say that despite strategic delays, they are
determined to put an end to Democrats' tactics that blocked 10 judicial nominees
from an up-or-down vote by the full Senate. A vote on changing the rules to allow
a simple majority of 51 votes to end debate — rather than 60 — could
come after senators return from an upcoming recess.
The proposed rule change is considered so explosive for bipartisan relations in
the Senate that it is being called the nuclear option.
The risks were brought home to business leaders late last week when two moderate
Democrats known for close ties to the corporate community sent a sharply worded
letter to Donohue, as well as to his counterparts at the National Assn. of Manufacturers
and the Business Roundtable.
Democratic Sens. Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin wrote
that Republicans were "trying to erase the 'checks and balances' that exist
in our representative democracy, turning the Senate into a rubber stamp for the
president."
The day after the letter was sent, representatives from the three business organizations
— the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the National Assn.
of Manufacturers — and several others met in Frist's office for a briefing
on the filibuster rule from the senator's chief of staff. The three groups have
declined to back Frist's filibuster initiative, issuing statements of neutrality.
Another group invited into the room, Americans for Tax Reform, was alone in expressing
enthusiasm for the Frist initiative and in offering to build support for it, according
to one person who was present. The tax group, led by Grover Norquist, favors the
change as a way to improve the judiciary.
The three business groups are concerned that the filibuster fight is emerging
just as the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings on a long-awaited
bill to resolve asbestos litigation claims, which affect a vast number of industries
that have used the insulating material in manufacturing.
Other issues on the business legislative agenda include energy, trade, transportation
and healthcare.
Frist and his staff are already assigning blame to the Democrats for threatening
to shut down Senate business, predicting it is Democrats who will suffer. "A
vote to shut down the Senate in fit of pique would be irresponsible, and the American
people, I believe, would let the Democrats know that in no small voice,"
said Frist's spokesman, Robert Stevenson.
Despite the confident and aggressive statements from the majority leader's office,
Republicans were confronted with new polling data showing that their plans were
not popular.
Internal GOP polling compiled by the Winston Group and presented late last week
to Senate staffers showed that 51% of registered voters opposed the idea of changing
the rules — compared with 37% who backed it. Even among voters who identify
themselves as conservative Republicans, opinion is divided enough to pose concerns
for party leaders, with more than a quarter in that category opposed to the rule
change and two-thirds supportive.
The question could come to a head soon. Last week, the Judiciary Committee voted
along party lines to approve the nominations of state Supreme Court Justices Janice
Rogers Brown of California and Priscilla R. Owen of Texas to the federal appellate
bench.
Democrats describe the judges as extremists whose legal decisions are based more
on conservative ideology than legal merits. They have said they would filibuster
the nominations. Frist has said he would respond by moving to change the filibuster
rules to the simple majority standard.
Several Republicans, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lincoln Chafee
of Rhode Island, have balked at supporting the rule change. Frist has stressed
the change would ban filibusters of only judicial nominations, not legislative
issues, and that the rule would provide a basic level of fairness, allowing the
nominees to have an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
With their 55-vote majority in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told the
Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday that Republicans would have the votes
to rewrite rules prohibiting filibusters of judicial nominees. If that happens,
Democrats say, they will use other parliamentary tactics to bring the Senate to
a standstill.
The brinksmanship has put extraordinary strains on the Senate and on some of the
business groups. In January, the president of the National Assn. of Manufacturers,
former Michigan Gov. John Engler, announced plans to expand the voice of his organization
to include the federal confirmation fights.
Engler said judicial branch decisions had a big effect on business and it was
a natural issue for business engagement. Conservative activists, notably Washington
lawyer C. Boyden Gray, had long advocated business involvement in the cause but,
until Engler's involvement, it hadn't happened on a large scale.
The issue of judicial nominees also gained visibility from the case of Terri Schiavo,
the brain-damaged Florida woman whose death last month after her feeding tube
was removed ended a years-long legal battle that included interventions by Bush
and the GOP-led Congress.
The Schiavo case propelled judicial confirmations to the top of the evangelical
agenda as well as the top of priority lists for liberal activist groups. The People
for the American Way organization has opened a filibuster war room and launched
national television ads decrying the proposed rule change. Conservative groups
plan their own advertising campaigns.
Conservatives such as Gray said they understood the business community's neutrality,
particularly in light of its obligation to stockholders. But Gray maintained in
an interview that shareholders' long-term interests lay in ending the filibuster
delays and building a judiciary that was friendlier to business. He called Democrats'
threats to tie up the Senate a bluff.
A former Frist aide, Manuel Miranda, was less sympathetic, arguing that Congress
has already rewarded business for its support by passing the class action and
bankruptcy measures.
"You already got your payback," he said, framing the argument he and
others will make to business leaders. Besides, he said, business ultimately "won't
be affected much at all" by Democratic threats to shut down Senate actions.
For now, it appears the GOP leadership is moving closer to the evangelical side
of the debate.
Vice President Dick Cheney — offering the White House's firmest words of
support yet for the effort to stop filibusters on judicial nominees — pledged
Friday that, as the Constitution provides, he would vote to break a tie in favor
of the rule change if needed.
And the Republican National Committee, headed by Bush's handpicked chairman, Kenneth
Mehlman, is holding weekly strategy sessions among the key conservative interest
groups pushing for the end to judicial filibusters.
Those include the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, the Federalist
Society and the American Center for Law and Justice, which was founded by the
Rev. Pat Robertson.
Another group, the Judicial Confirmation Network, is headed by a former Bush campaign
grass-roots organizer and lists as its counsel a former clerk to Supreme Court
Justice Clarence Thomas.
Jay Sekulow, counsel for Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, called
the judicial battle "the most organized effort on our side in our history."
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Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times